Comparative study of the thermal stability of the epoxy systems BADGE n=0/1, 2 DCH and BADGE n=0/1, 2 DCH/CaCO3

The thermal degradation of the epoxy systems diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (BADGE n=0)/1, 2 diamine cyclohexane (DCH) and diglycidyl ether of bisphe nol A (BADGE n=0)/1, 2 diamine cyclohexane (DCH) containing calcium carbona te filler immersed and not immersed in hydrochloric acid have been studied by thermogravimetric analysis in order to compare their decomposition proce sses and to determine the reaction mechanism of the degradation processes. The value of the activation energies, necessary for this study, were calcul ated using various integral and differential methods. Analysis of the resul ts suggests that hydrochloric acid does not affect the decomposition of the epoxy network and that the reaction mechanisms produce sigmoidal-type curv es for the systems not immersed in HCl and deceleration curves for the same systems immersed.