Viscoelastic behaviour of epoxy resins modified with poly(methyl methacrylate)

The viscoelastic behaviour of a stoichiometric diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A, (DGEBA), 4,4′-diaminodiphenylmethanes (DDM)s epoxy matrix modified with several amounts of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has been studied by dynamic-mechanical analysis. Mixtures pre-cured at 80°C ranged from transparency to opacity as thermoplastic content changed from 5 to 15wt%. These changes have been attributed to variations in the ratio between polymerization rate and phase separation rate when PMMA content increased in the mixtures. When PMMA segregated from the epoxy matrix during curing, it had no influence on the crosslinking density of the epoxy phase. The clear decrease of temperature and activation energy of the β relaxation with respect to those values for the neat matrix, observed for the 5wt% PMMA-containing mixture but not for the 15wt% PMMA-containing one, are proposed to be a consequence of physical interactions between the PMMA chains and some epoxy oligomers. The dissimilar variation of the height of the ω relaxation with frequency when compared to that for the other relaxations studied, outlines the significance of physical factors influencing this relaxation.