Developing an epoxy resin with high toughness for grouting material via co-polymerization method

Abstract

In order to improve the toughness of epoxy resin for grouting material, the flexible hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) was utilized to manufacture a new kind of epoxy resin with high toughness via co-polymerization method. In the procedure of preparing bisphenol A epoxy resin, before the reaction between bisphenol A (BPA) and epichlorohydrin (ECH), HDI was introduced to react with BPA for embedding flexible segments into the chain of epoxy resin, then modified epoxy resin (HDI/EP) was manufactured. The mechanical properties, especially the toughness of the HDI/EP, are significantly increased - the fracture elongation is up to 124%. In addition, the compressed specimens can fully recover to their original shape in a few minutes. Thermal performance and corrosion resistance of the HDI/EP specimen were also investigated, which showed that the specimen can be used under 258°C, and can remain stable in H2SO4, NaOH and NaCl solutions with 10 wt% for 100 h, respectively. The present work provides a convenient avenue pathway to prepare an epoxy resin with high toughness, which may be used in many technologies.