Curing of dicyanate ester/epoxy copolymers modified with polysiloxane and butadiene-acrylonitrile rubbers

Abstract

The cyanate ester (CE) and epoxy (EP) resins were cured together at various mass compositions. The curing behavior of CE and CE/EP systems was studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in non-isothermal conditions. The DSC measurements indicated that the curing reactions were dependent on the stoichiometric ratio of the mixtures and showed the dilution effect of the EP resin in the cyclotrimerization of the catalyzed CE resin. The CE and CE/EP (70/30) systems were modified using reactive liquid butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer (ETBN) and polysiloxane core-shell (PS) elastomer. The influence of ETBN and PS on the curing process and glass transition temperature (T g) of CE/EP systems was determined. The impact resistance characteristics of the completely cured systems indicated the influence of the modifiers and the EP content in the mixtures on its impact resistance. © 2011 The Author(s).