MORPHOLOGY-ENHANCED PROPERTIES OF AN INTERPENETRATING POLYMER NETWORK ADHESIVE

摘要

An interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) adhesive was produced from electron beam curedacrylate and thermally cured epoxy components. The acrylate component was 80% bisphenol Aepoxy diacrylate and 20% trimethylolpropane triacrylate. The epoxy component was a flexiblemixture of 50% diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and 50% poly(propylene glycol)diglycidyl ether cured with 2-ethyl, 4-methyl imidazole. Bulk properties of an approximately50/50 acrylate/epoxy IPN adhesive were tested and compared to those of its individualcomponents. Mechanical tests show that the IPN possesses a favorable combination of acrylatestrength and modulus plus epoxy flexibility, and the IPN fracture toughness is more than doublethe value of its individual components. These improvements are attributed to the IPNmorphology as revealed by scanning electron microscopy.