A unified treatment of cure and degradation through the composite methodology

The composite methodology, developed by Seferis and coworkers, was used to describe the kinetics for both a commercial and a model controlled-flow epoxy-based resin system throughout cure and degradation. By utilizing this previously developed generalized methodology, capable of describing two or more kinetic mechanisms acting in series or parallel, a fundamental understanding of the kinetic behavior of a prepreg system from cure through degradation was established. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and simultaneous differential thermal analysis-thermogravimetric analysis (SDT) were utilized to provide the experimental kinetic information. Two approaches were used to determine the activation energies for each of the resin systems, and a comparison is made between these approaches and the two thermoanalytical techniques. Using the determined kinetic parameters, the kinetic model was compared with experimental kinetics throughout cure and degradation at heating rates from 2-20°C/min. The results show that the kinetic model fits the experimental data well. In addition, the results demonstrate that the same weighting factors are applicable to both the model and commercial controlled-flow resins.