STUDY OF CROSS-LINKING AMS DGEBA SYSTEM BY FTIR/

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to follow the curing of the diglycidylether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) typical epoxide r esin by poly( styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) (AMS), the reaction being accelerated by triethylamine (TEA) in the presence of methanol. The st udy was done in an isothermal mode for four temperatures: 85, 82, 80, and 75 degrees C. We followed: for each temperature, the variation of the area of the epoxy band (916 cm(-1)) versus time. After 200 min of reaction, the degree of conversion of epoxy is 0.5 at 85 degrees C. A postcure at 100 degrees C during 96 h allows one to reach a total conv ersion of epoxy. The reaction mechanism involves three steps to form t he tridimensional network. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Pol ym Sci 69: 1167-1178, 1998.