Abstract
The purpose behind this research was to determine the optimum formulation and investigate the cure kinetics of a diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA)-based epoxy resin cured by dicyandiamide and diuron for use in prepregs. First, all formulations were examined by the tensile test, and then, the specimens with higher mechanical properties were further investigated by viscometry and tack tests. The cure kinetics of the best formulation (based on tack test) in nonisothermal mode was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry at different heating rates. Kissinger and Ozawa method was used for determining the kinetic parameters of the curing process. The activation energy obtained by this method was 71.43 kJ/mol. The heating rate had no significant effect on the reaction order and the total reaction order was approximately constant (
m
+
n
≅
2.1
$m+n\cong 2.1$
). By comparing the experimental data and the theoretical data obtained by Kissinger and Ozawa method, a good agreement was seen between them. By increasing the degree of conversion, the viscosity decreased; as the degree of conversion increased, so did the slope of viscosity. The results of the tack test also indicated that the highest tack could be obtained with 25% progress of curing.
