CURING STUDY OF DICYCLOPENTADIENE RESIN AND EFFECT OF ELASTOMER ON ITS POLYMER NETWORK

Curing of DCPD thermosetting resin has been followed by liquid state a nd solid state n.m.r. techniques. The liquid state n.m.r. spectra show the peaks corresponding to polybutadiene elastomers and residual DCPD monomers during the curing process. Solid state C-13 CP/MAS and C-13 HPDEC n.m.r. techniques have also been applied for characterization of polymer matrix during curing for carbon atoms in rigid phase and in m obile phase, respectively. S.e.c. measurements on DCPD resin before an d after cure are also carried out to give supplementary information, b esides n.m.r. measurements, to investigate the role of polybutadiene i n the poly-DCPD network. It is concluded that polybutadiene elastomers could participate in the poly-DCPD network structure in the form of p endant chains or fixed segments in between crosslinking points. A sche me of the final polymer matrix structure is proposed at the end of stu dy. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.