Abstract

In the current research, the curing kinetics of a mixture system consisting of a Bisphenol-A type vinyl ester resin and styrene monomer was studied. Methylethylketone peroxide and cobalt octoate were used as the polymerization initiator and accelerator respectively. Thermograms with several different heating rates were obtained using non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry. Activation energy values analyzed by the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa isoconversional method showed a three-step change with conversion α: a slight decrease initially for α < 0.1, a constant value of 47.9 kJ/mol in the range 0.1 < α < 0.7, and a slow increase for 0.7 < α . When assuming a constant activation energy of 47.9 kJ/mol, an autocatalytic model of the Sestak-Berggren equation was considered as the proper mathematical model of the conversion function, indicating an overall order of 1.2.

Keywords: cure kinetics;vinyl ester resin;non-isothermal DSC;autocatalytic