Effect of the addition of a polycarbonate on the cure of an epoxy thermoset system

During the cure of a thermoset-thermoplastic blend two-phase morphologies m ay be formed. The phase separation process can be controlled by manipulatio n of the rate of polymerization of the thermoset system. In this work, the effect of the addition of different amounts of polycarbonate (PC) on the rh eokinetics of an epoxy thermoset system is presented. The reactive system u sed was diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A cured with 4-4 diaminodiphenylsulfo ne. The blends of the PC and the epoxy resin were prepared using two differ ent procedures: (a) hot melt blending and (b) dissolution in a common solve nt. The kinetics was followed by differential scanning calorimetry and the change in the rheological properties during the curing by dynamic rheometry .