A systematic study of the microwave and thermal cure kinetics of the TGDDM/DDS and TGDDM/DDM epoxy‐amine resin systems†

The microwave and thermal cure processes for the epoxy‐amine systems N,N,N′,N′‐tetraglycidyl‐4,4′‐diaminodiphenyl methane (TGDDM) with diaminodiphenyl sulfone (DDS) and diaminodiphenyl methane (DDM) have been investigated. The DDS system was studied at a single cure temperature of 433 K and a single stoichiometry of 27 wt% and the DDM system was studied at two stoichiometries, 19 and 32 wt%, and a range of temperatures between 373 and 413 K. The best values of the kinetic rate parameters for the consumption of amines have been determined by a least squares curve fit to a model for epoxy‐amine cure. The activation energies for the rate parameters for the MY721/DDM system were determined as was the overall activation energy for the cure reaction which was found to be 62 kJ mol−1. No evidence was found for any specific effect of the microwave radiation on the rate parameters, and the systems were both found to be characterized by a negative substitution effect.