Thermal Analysis of a Novel Tetrafunctional Epoxy Resin Cured with Anhydride

The viscoelastic behavior and thermal property of 3, 3'-diethyl-N, N, N', N'-tetraglycidyl-4, 4'-diaminodiphenylmethane (C ₂ H ₅ -TGDDM) epoxy resin in presence of methyl nadic anhydride (MNA) as curing agent and 2-ethyl-4-methyl imidazole (2,4-EMI) as accelerator were investigated by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) in single cantilever mode at different frequencies and non-isothermal DSC-TGA, respectively. According to the DMTA data, the results show that the storage and loss moduli and loss factor curves were shifted to higher temperatures region with increasing frequencies. The value of glass transition temperature (T _g ) is in the range of 224 °C to 247 °C, and the difference between the T _g determined by the loss modulus and loss factor peaks is ca. 15 °C, and the glass transition activation energy was calculated. The results of DSC-TGA show that the curing and the decomposition heat-release peaks of epoxy resin were occurred at ca. 191 °C and 360 °C, respectively. The onset temperature of degradation is 324°C, and the epoxy resin system was heat-resistant.