Kinetics and flow of diallyl phthalate resins

The analysis of molding operations for thermosetting polymers requires knowledge of the rheology and reaction rates of the materials. The purpose of this research was to measure kinetic and rheological data on diallyl phthalate resins and to integrate these results into models describing the flow behavior. The chemical kinetics of the curing reactions were derived from calorimetric measurements taken with a differential scanning calorimeter. The rheological data were measured with a mechanical spectrometer equipped with eccentric rotating discs. A model based on the theory of ideal rubber elasticity was used to correlate the elastic storage modulus with reaction time and temperature. For the region below the gel point, the dynamic viscosity exhibited a power law dependence on angular frequency and an Arrhenius dependence on temperature.