Study on the Cure Kinetics of a Silicone-Modified Waterborne Epoxy Curing Agent by the Advanced Isoconversional Method.

The non-isothermal cure kinetics of a novel silicone modified waterborne curing agent and glycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) based waterborne epoxy resin was studied by DSC measurement. The DSC results from different silicone contents and heating rates were calculated by the advanced isoconversional method (AICM). The results show that the effective activation energy of the curing reaction is changed with conversion and the curing process of waterborne epoxy resin systems are mainly controlled by diffusion. When silicone is incorporated, the effective activation energy is relatively lower at the beginning, then increased dramatically with the curing process, finally decreased slowly. The introduction of silicone into the waterborne epoxy system could shorten the entire curing time and facilitate the forming of cured films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]