• Composites Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2008

The cure behavior of epoxy resin with a conventional amide-type hardener(HD) was investigated in the presence of castor oil(CO), cashew nut shell liquid(CNSL) and CNSL-formaldehyde resin(CFR) by using a dynamic differential scanning calorimetry(DSC). The activation energy of curing reaction was also calculated based on the non-isothermal DSC thermograms at various heating rates. An one-stage curing was noted in the case of epoxy resin filled with CO, while the epoxy resin with CNSL and CFR showed a two-stage curing process. A competitive cure reaction was noted for the epoxy resin/CNSL(or CFR)/HD blends. In the absence of HD, the CFR showed lower values of curing enthalpy than that of CNSL. The activation energy of epoxy resin curing increased with increasing the CNSL and CFR loading.