Thermal degradation of epoxy resin grafted with polyurethane

Abstract

Epoxy resin grafted with polyurethane was synthesized and characterized through a series of tests. The grafting reactive process between the pendant secondary hydroxyl groups on the side chains of epoxy resin and the isocyanate groups of pre-polyurethane were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Thermal behavior of the grafted epoxy resin was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis within 40-500°C. The degradation of grafted epoxy resin involved two stages. Microstructures of the polyurethane section and grafted epoxy resin were observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy. Model fitting method was employed to calculate the thermal degradation model of grafted epoxy resin. In this paper, 15 typical kinetic mechanisms were introduced into the model fitting method, such as Coats- Redfern method and Achar-Brindley-Sharp-Wendworth method, to obtain the kinetic function of thermal degradation for grafted epoxy resin.