Polyaniline as a Curing Agent for Epoxy Resin: Cure Kinetics by Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Abstract

A poly(aniline sulfate) salt was prepared by an emulsion polymerization pathway. A mixture of epoxy resin and the poly(aniline sulfate) salt sample was prepared using chloroform as solvent, and studied using both dynamic and isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). DSC analysis was performed on samples with different polyaniline/epoxy resin ratios, in the temperature range between 40 and 350°C. A single exothermic peak was observed for the curing reaction of epoxy resin using polyaniline. The result indicates that, epoxy resin can be cured using polyaniline in a 1 : 1 ratio at a temperature of 180°C for 5 min. Dynamic kinetic parameters were calculated using the Kissinger and Ozawa methods. Isothermal kinetic parameters, including k1, k2, n and m were determined, based on an autocatalytic mechanism proposed by Kamal.