The cure reaction of tetraglycidyl 4,4’-diaminodiphenyl methane (TGDDM) epoxy resin with 4,4’-diaminodiphenyl methane (DDM) has been studied by using DSC. Instead of one exothermic peak, two exothermic peaks, indicative of a complex reaction mechanism, are shown in the DSC curve of TGDDM-DDM mixtures in nonisothermal cure experiments when the content of DDM is lower than stoichiometric ratio. The result of the kinetic analysis of the cure reaction shows that the activation energy of the lower temperature exotherm peak is about 56 kJ/mol and that of the higher temperature exotherm peak is about 136 kJ/mol. The lower temperature cure reaction peak can be attributed to the primary amine-epoxide and secondary amine-epoxide reactions, and the higher temperature cure reaction peak can be attributed to the epoxide-hydroxy reaction under catalysis of tertiary amine in the TGDDM epoxy resin. Because the network density of the cured epoxy resin is determined by these two reactions, the content of DDM has little effect on the glass transition temperature of cured epoxy resin.
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