DSC studies of cure kinetics for epoxy-amine systems and measurements of toughness for epoxy-based materials

Knowledge of kinetics is essential for the curing of an epoxy system. Moreover, information on toughness is crucial for a any structural application of epoxy-based materials.;The first part of this dissertation deals with the determinations of cure kinetics for epoxy/amine systems with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Extensive studies have been undertaken to understand the dependence of the total heat of cure, (-;The second part of this dissertation is concerned with various measurements of the toughness of epoxy-based materials. A DGEBA/mPDA epoxy and a proprietary DGEBA/mPDA IPN have been characterized not only by tensile and impact tests according to ASTM standards but also by the linear elastic fracture mechanics and J-integral method. It has been demonstrated that complementary information on the toughness of epoxy materials can be obtained from different experimental techniques.