ISOTHERMAL CURING KINETICS OF NON-FUNCTIONALIZED CARBON BLACK/EPOXY NANOCOMPOSITES USING DIFFERENTIAL SCANNING CALORIMETRY

摘要

The curing kinetics of epoxy resin nanocomposites incorporated with 2, 4, and 8 wt.% non-functionalized carbon black was studied at isothermal curing temperatures ranging from 43 C to 104 C using a differential scanning calorimeter. It was observed that the addition of non-functionalized carbon black slowed down the curing of epoxy resin over the entire range of isothermal temperatures. The observed decrease was more pronounced for the samples incorporated with less amounts of CB nanofiller. More specifically, the sample incorporated with 2 wt.% CB cured at 43 C had the slowest curing kinetics, whereas the sample incorporated with 8 wt.% CB cured at 104 C had fastest curing kinetics. The observed change in the curing kinetics was attributed to the impediment of curing reactions by non-functionalized CB. It was also noted that the effect of CB on curing kinetics depends on how well the nanofillers are dispersed in the epoxy resin. Scanning electron microscopy of the samples revealed that with increasing the amount of non-functionalized CB, nanofiller agglomeration occurs which limits the hindrance of curing reactions.