Abstract
The effect of biodegradable modified aliphatic polyester (MAP) on neat tetrafunctional epoxy (4EP) was investigated in terms of cure kinetics, thermal stabilities, and rheological properties. The 4,4'-diamino diphenyl methane (DDM) was used as a curing agent for the blend system and the content of 4EP/MAP was varied with the in the 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, and 60:40 wt%. As a result, the cure activiation energies ($E_{a}$) for the cure kinetics obtained by dynamic DSC method using Kissinger equation, were increased in 10 and 20 wt% of MAP compared with neat 4EP, due to the increasing intermolecular interaction between 4EP and MAP. And the decomposition activation energies ($E_{t}$) for thermal stability derived fromthe integral method of Horowitz-Metzger equation, were increased within the 10∼30 wt% composition range of MAP, resulting from increased crosslinking density in the blend system. The cross-linking activation energies ($E_{c}$) for rheological properties determined from the Arrhenius equation based on gel time and curing temperature, exhibited similar behavior to those of integral method which could be explained by the miscibility between 4EP and MAP.
