Study of rubber-modified epoxy resin using thermally stimulated current

Summary

In order to characterize the low temperature relaxation of epoxy resin modified with amine-terminated butadiene acrylonitrile copolymers (ATBN), thermally stimulated current (TSC) and relaxation map analysis (RMA) were investigated. Four relaxation peaks at around −140, −100, −60 and 0°C were observed as the indication of γ-, β-relaxation of epoxy resin, T_g, new unknown peak of ATBN, respectively. The unknown peak at around 0°C was observed due to dipole orientation. The RMA data was showed that compensation temperature (T_c) and degree-of-disorder (DOD) were increased with increasing the content of acrylonitrile and ATBN, whereas the compensation time (τ_c) was decreased. It can be concluded that the cooperative molecular motion in cured epoxy resin was more active as the concentration of acrylonitrile and ATBN content increases.