On the cure kinetics of epoxy/anhydride/MWCNTs nanocomposites
Saeb Mohammad Reza (1)*, Sarami Raha (2), Wagenknecht Udo (3), Pakdel Amir Saeid (1)
(1) Department of Resin and Additives, Institute for Color Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran - Tehran - Iran, (2) Department of Polymer Engineering and Color Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology - Tehran - Iran, (3) Leibniz-Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, D-01069, Dresden - Dresden - Germany
In this work, we introduce highly curable epoxy nanocomposites containing primary and secondary amine groups attached on the surface of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via addition polymerization. Using anhydride curing agent provides a low curing rate and makes it possible to appropriately track the impact of amine functionalization of MWCNTs on cure kinetics. Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were carried out for monitoring of chemical adsorption of single atoms onto the surface of nanotubes. Cure assessment of nanocomposites containing pristine and functionalized MWCNTs was conducted applying different heating rates in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was found that curing efficiency of epoxy/anhydride system noticeably increases by incorporation of newly developed functionalized MWCNTs bearing primary-secondary amine groups, irrespective of heating rate applied.
Keywords: Epoxy, MWCNTs, functionalization, XPS, cure kinetics, anhydride curing