Epoxy compositions with silica hardened with imidazoles

Ryszard Pilawka, Teofil Jesionowski, Krzysztof Gorący

Quarterly No. 1, 2011 pages 9-13

DOI:

keywords: epoxy resin, epoxy composites, silica fillers, glass transition, curing process

abstract Epoxy materials hardened with 1-ethylimidazole (1EI) or 1-butylimidazole (1BI) with (nano)silica have been investigated. The epoxy resin used was Epidian 6 (product of Chemical Works “Organika Sarzyna” in Nowa Sarzyna) and as the filler, silicas were employed: a product of the precipitation reaction from solutions of sodium silicate and ammonium salts (SiO2) and a silica modified with 3-glicydoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (SiO2-EP). The filler was introduced to the compositions in the amounts of 1.0; 2.5; 5.0 and 7.5 g per 100 g of epoxy resin and the hardener was added - 1 g per 100 g of resin. The dispergation time of the fillers was 120 minutes at 70°C. The particle sizes of the obtained powders using the laser diffraction method (Mastersizer 2000, Malvern Instruments Ltd.) were determined. The investigations of the viscosity of the epoxy composition were carried out with the use of a ARES rheometer, Rheometric Scientific: the diameter of the plates - 50 mm, the thickness between the plates - 1 mm. The curing process was determined by using differential scanning calorimetry DSC (Q-100, TA Instruments, speed rate 10 mm/min). The particle size remains in the range of 350 to 840 nm for the unmodi-fied silica SiO2 and from 450 to 950 nm for the particles modified with epoxysilane. The addition of the filler increases the viscosities of the epoxy composition from 12.74 Pa•s for Epidian 6 to the range of 14.30 to 15.40 Pa•s for the compositions with unmodified silicas and 14.50 (compositions with 1 phr of silica with epoxysilane) to 15.80 Pa•s (epoxy material with 7.5 phr SiO2-EP). The curing process enpalthies are from 490 to 590 J/g for the compositions hardened with 1-ethylimidazoleand at 281.6 to 516.0 J/g for the epoxy materials cured with 1-buthylimidazole.