Thermochemical Response of Vinyl-Ester Resin.

摘要

This report presents the thermochemical characterization of Dow Derakane 411-C50 commercial vinyl-ester resin at low temperatures (20 deg - 40 deg C). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and torsional braid analysis (TBA) are the experimental techniques used to characterize the material behavior. The cure kinetics are studied using DSC and are modeled using a modified autocatalytic equation with a maximum degree of cure term. Also, the effect of inhibitors in the resin system is accounted for by an inhibitor depletion model. A time-temperature-transformation diagram is constructed for the material by measuring the times to gelation and vitrification using TBA. The glass transition temperature (T(sub g)) is also characterized using the TBA and related to the degree of cure. It was found that the T(sub g) and the degree of cure do not exhibit a linear relationship for this resin system. The findings presented in this work provide information for accurate cure modeling and process simulation of vinyl-ester materials.