Effect of Temperature and Initiator Concentration on the Curing Reaction of an Epoxy/Amine System

Abstract Epoxy blends of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and 2‐[2‐(dimethylamino) ethoxy] ethanol (DMAEE) were prepared. The effect of DMAEE concentration on the rheological properties of the epoxy blends were investigated through oscillatory rheometry under isothermal conditions. A novel technique was developed to study the rheological behavior of the epoxy blends by using a Rubber Process Analyzer (RPA). The rheological study enabled analyzing the variations in the storage modulus ( G’ ), loss modulus ( G’’ ) and torque during the progress of the curing reaction. Additionally, the theoretical cross‐linking density ( ν e ) and the degree of conversión of the curing reaction ( α ). The gel time ( t gel ) was determined at different temperatures, and the activation energy ( Ea ) was calculated by using Arrhenius‐type equation based on the gel time results. The activation energy values found are 24.79 kJ/mol and 23.01 kJ/mol. The results obtained are consistent with the values described in the literature. It was demonstrated that the proposed methodology is valid and, the use of the tertiary amine DMAEE curing agent for epoxy resins was confirmed.