Curing reaction kinetics of liquid crystalline resin based on 6,6 '-bis (2,3-epoxypropoxy)-2,2 ' binaphthyl

The curing kinetics of an epoxy stoichiometrically equivalent mixture of 6, 6'-bis (2,3-epoxypropoxy)-2,2' binaphthyl (EPBN) and 4,4'-diaminodiphenyl s ulfone (DDS) has been determined experimentally. A liquid crystalline phase forms during the curing reaction. A phenomenological model of the curing p rocess has been developed, with parameter values extracted from the data by fitting of separate parts of the DSC curves. If the conventional reaction scheme proposed for the addition reaction of amines to epoxy groups holds t rue, then the overall reaction can be modeled, and the contribution of the phase transition occurring during the hardening reaction can be evaluated a nd modeled.