Standardization of phase separation in rubber toughened epoxy materices: discontinuous phase functionality

摘要

Liquid rubbers have proven to be an effective toughening additive for epoxy matrixes. these liquid rubber materials usually phase separate throughout the epoxy resin upon cure forming a tough second phase. Previous work has proven that adducting various epoxies or intermediates to the rubber has resulted in large changes in the morphology of phase separation and the final mechanical properties of the resins. In this work, different combinations of epoxy resin molecules were adducted to rubber during the formulation process, without changing the overal composition of the resin. Results show that adducting the liquid rubbers with different combinations of epoxy molecules can later the phase separation process and final morphology of the resin plaques, which in turn can effect the fracture toughness of the materials.