Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.56, No.17, 4938-4948, 2017
Branched 1,6-Diaminohexane-Derived Aliphatic Polyamine as Curing Agent for Epoxy: Isothermal Cure, Network Structure, and Mechanical Properties
Aliphatic diamines and polyamines are long used as important airing agents for epoxy resins, especially in room-temperature-cure epoxy coatings and adhesives due to their high reactivity and low cost. Herein we systematically evaluate our newly developed liquid branched aliphatic polyamine, N,N,N',N'-tetra(3-aminopropyl)-1,6-diaminohexane (TADH), as the curing agent for bisphenol A epoxy (DGEBA), emphasizing the isothermal cure reaction, network structure, and mechanical properties. The isothermal curing reaction of DGEBA/TADH at 40, 50 60, and 70 degrees C is autocatalytic, and we adequately simulate the curing kinetic rate with the extended autocatalytic Kamal model. Further isoconversional kinetic analysis reveals that the effective activation energy changes dramatically as the reaction proceeds, especially for the diffusion-controlled stage due to the chemical vitrification (T-g infinity(DSC) = 119 degrees C). Compared to DGEBA/1,6-diaminohexane (a starting material of TADH), a dynamic mechanical analysis illustrates that the cured DGEBA/TADH network features three relaxations and shows the increased storage modulus (up to 54 degrees C), alpha and beta transition temperatures, and activation energy of the alpha relaxation. Also, DGEBA/TADH shows enhanced mechanical properties: flexural strength (similar to 95 MPa), flexural modulus (similar to 2440 MPa), and shear strength (similar to 8 MPa), with good processing ability (gel time of 130-150 min at 25 degrees C). Due to these merits, TADH may be suitable to be used in epoxy systems, highlighting its good promise in adhesive applications.