Thermochimica Acta, Vol.672, 60-69, 2019
Optimizing curing process of graphene oxide/waterborne epoxy blends by curing kinetics simulation considering the coupling of heat conduction and curing reaction
Curing kinetics of the waterborne epoxy emulsion (EPWE)/Graphene oxide (GO) system was investigated by non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), which shows an autocatalytic behavior and can be well predicted by model fitting kinetic method. By combining with the kinetics simulation and the conventional extrapolation method, an novel three-stage curing process with a high initial cure temperature and a cooling stage was proposed to inhibit the thermal shock inside materials and the uneven curing reaction during the curing process of the materials. The experimental results indicate that compared to the conventional two-stage curing process, the new curing procedure containing a cooling section significantly increased the bending strength by 14.9%, elastic modulus by 7.3% and T-g by 8 K of the cured GO/EPWE material, and the total curing time clearly decreased.
Keywords:Graphene oxide / waterborne epoxy;Non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry;Curing kinetics;Thermal shock;Simulation