Cure kinetics of biphenyl epoxy-phenol novolac resin system using triphenylphosphine as catalyst

Abstract

The effects of the concentration of triphenylphosphine as a catalyst on the cure reaction of the biphenyl epoxy/phenol novolac resin system were studied. The kinetic study was carried out by means of the analysis of isothermal experiments using a differential scanning calorimeter. All kinetic parameters including the reaction orders, activation energy and kinetic rate constants were evaluated. To describe the cure reaction with the catalyst concentration, the normalized kinetic model was developed. The suggested kinetic model with a diffusion term was successfully able to describe and predict the cure reaction of epoxy resin compositions as functions of the catalyst content and temperature. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 713–720, 1999