A low viscosity tetrafunctional epoxy resin was synthesized by reactin
g amino-terminated polydimethylsiloxane with epichlorohydrin followed
by dehydrohalogenation. The synthesized tetrafunctional aliphatic epox
y resin had an epoxy equivalent weight of 382, M-n of 1492, M-w of 229
6, and a viscosity of 4.2 poise at 25 degrees C. The chemical structur
e of the tetrafunctional aliphatic epoxy resin was studied by gel perm
eation chromatography (GPC), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR)
, and H-1-NMR spectra. Results showed the tetrafunctional aliphatic ep
oxy-blended aromatic epoxy resin possessed high impact strength and fl
exural strength. SEM photographs were investigated to study the compat
ibility of the blended epoxy system. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.