Ionic liquids as reactive additives for the preparation and modification of epoxy networks

Abstract

In this study, epoxy-networked polymeric materials containing tributyl (ethyl) phosphonium diethyl phosphate (CYPHOS®IL169) and trihexyl (tetradecyl) phosphonium bis 2,4,4-(trimethyl pentyl)-phosphinate (CYPHOS®IL104) were developed from a mixture of epoxy prepolymer (DGEBA) and different amounts of ionic liquids (10–20–30 phr). Then, the effect of the chemical nature of ionic liquids on the final properties of epoxy networks was studied. Thus, the use of phosphonium salts as new additives led to the network with a high conversion of epoxy group (>90%), a high glass transition temperature Tg (>90 °C), adjustable in function of the counteranion and an increase of the storage modulus. In addition, the hydrophobic behavior and the thermal stability of the materials were also investigated by sessile drop method and thermogravimetric analyses. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014, 52, 3463–3471