Effect of vulcanized nitrile butadiene elastomeric nanoparticles on curing kinetics of epoxy resin

In this study, the effect of elastomeric nanoparticles on the thermal and cure kinetic behavior of epoxy resin was investigated. The thermal behavior of epoxy resins and epoxy nanocomposites were investigated at three different temperatures of 65, 70, and 75 oC under isothermal conditions . For this purpose, scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimeter tests were used. Morphological examination of epoxy nanocomposites showed that the appearance of elastomeric nanoparticles is spherical and shows good dispersion in the epoxy matrix at both 0.5% and 1%.Examination of the heat flow of epoxy resin and epoxy nanocomposite showed that it initially increases and decreases after reaching a maximum point and by adding elastomeric nanoparticles the degree of curing, the total enthalpy of the reaction and the peak heat flow time increased .Curing kinetics modeling showed that epoxy resin and epoxy nanocomposites follow the nth-order model and with increasing the presence of elastomeric nanoparticles, the activation energy decreased and this type of nanoparticles plays a catalytic role in reaction with epoxy resin and laboratory data are in good agreement with the results of curing kinetics modeling.