Modelling the Cure of a Commercial Epoxy Resin for Applications in Resin Transfer Moulding

Abstract

An analytical procedure has been developed for modelling the kinetics of the cure process of a commercial epoxy resin for resin transfer moulding (RTM) applications, using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in the isothermal and dynamic modes to obtain the experimental database. The overall reaction rate of the epoxide groups with amines was determined and fitted by an autocatalytic kinetic model. An improvement of the model to allow for diffusion limitation effects results in a good agreement between experimentally determined and predicted reaction rates. A non-linear least squares regression analysis method based on Marquardt's algorithm was used to fit the DSC reaction rate data with an appropriate model and to evaluate the activation energies and the reaction orders for this particular resin system. The Di Benedetto equation was utilised to establish the relationship between conversion and glass transition temperature (Tg), required to develop the diffusion-dominated part of the model.