Mechanical property and thermal stability of epoxy composites containing poly(ether sulfone)

Abstract

Poly(ether sulfone) (PES) embedded diglycidylether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) epoxy composites were fabricated for improving its mechanical properties and thermal stability. The mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural and impact strength of the composites changed significantly with the introduction of PES. The value of the fracture toughness of this composite also was increased remarkably about 24%. Thermal stability of PES/epoxy composites also improved 12%, which was calculated with integral procedural decomposition temperature (IPDT). From the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) result, the curing temperature and curing heat decreased according to the increase of PES contents. These were attributed to the good distribution and the formation of the semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (semi-IPNs) composed of the epoxy network and linear PES.