(2556)CONTINUOUS POLYMER REACTOR DESIGN FOR PREPREG EPOXY MATRIX PREPOLYMERS

摘要

A twin screw extruder was used to synthesize the commercial Narmco 5208 prepolymer for use on a prepreg line. Narmco 5208 is widely used in the aerospace industry and consists of three components: 4, 4'-diaminodiphenylsulfone (44DDS), N, N, N', N'-tetraglycidyl-4, 4'-diaminodiphenylmethane (TGDDM), and 4-[2-(4-hydroxyphenyl) propan-2-yl] phenol (SU-8). The reaction was first examined in a batch reactor to analyze cure kinetics and to obtain a target glass transition temperature (T_g) at which the epoxy prepolymer could be successfully processed into prepreg. Reactive extrusion was then performed at varying processing conditions to obtain the target T_g. A design of experiments was also used to study the effect of processing conditions on epoxy prepolymer properties. Processing conditions include barrel temperature, screw speed, and throughput. Differential scanning calorimetery, dynamic mechanical analysis, near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy, and mechanical testing were performed to characterize prepolymer properties for batch and continuous reactor conditions. A comparison of the batch and continuous reactor processes was used to assess the viability of using the continuous reactor process in epoxy prepolymer for the prepreg line.