Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis of Epoxy/Thermoplastic Blends

Abstract

Epoxy/thermoplastic blends have been primarily developed to meet requirements in high-performance applications rendering toughness to the poly resins without sacrificing thermal resistance and mechanical performance. Engineering thermo-plastics are the natural choice having high glass transition temperature, high thermal degradation temperatures, and impact resistance. The challenge is to understand and control phase separation in these systems and determine the correlation with mechanical properties. This chapter presents the application of dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) as a suitable analytical tool to investigate the mechanical behavior and energy dissipation of poly resins mod-ified with thermoplastics and aspects and consequences of miscibility, partial miscibility, or phase separation between thermoplastic domains and poly matrix. The type of thermoplastics utilized (amorphous vs. semicrystalline) and the influence of curing agents and curing temperature on the phase separation dynamics and nanophase of poly thermosets are discussed. Finally, application of DMTA to design and characterize the performance of a new generation of smart poly/thermoplastic blends with self-healing and shape memory properties is also discussed.