Oxidative skeleton breaking in epoxy–amine networks

Abstract

Abstract The photo and thermal oxidation of various epoxide–amine tridimensional polycondensates is studied by IR spectrophotometry and DSC. The network degradation results in a decrease of the glass transition temperature ( T g ), which is correlated with the quantity of amide groups formed. For each system, the relative yield in skeleton breaks increases with the intensity of internal stresses. A mechanism involving the β scission of α amino alkoxy macroradicals resulting from oxidation of constrained segments of the network is proposed.