Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol.46, No.11, 1576-1582, 2006
Thermomechanical properties of epoxy/poly(epsilon-caprolactone) blends
In this article we present a study on the properties of epoxy resins blended with poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL). Several blends were prepared with different PCL amounts. The resins used were a diglycidyl ether of bisphenol F (DGEBF) and a triglycidyl p-amino phenol (TGAP) cured by diethyltoluene diamine (DETDA). All the blends were fully characterized through thermal and mechanical testing. The addition of PCL led to high improvement of toughness but it also reduced the glass transition temperature. Analysis of the rheological and thermal data led to the conclusion that miscible IPNs (interpenetrated networks) were formed. The use of the trifunctional resin TGAP with a percentage varying between 20 wt% and 30 wt% proved to be an efficient means for increasing the glass transition temperature of the mixture based on DGEBF/DETDA with 20 wt% of PCL.