INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF REACTIVE DILUENTS ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF EPOXY BINDERS

Abstract

The effect of various types of curing agents and reactive diluents on the rheological and mechanical properties of epoxy binders was investigated. “Etal Inject-T” and “Larit L-285” epoxy resins were used as matrices. “Etal Inject-T”, iso-MTHPA, dicyandiamide (DICY), and diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS) were used as curing agents. The effect of reactive diluents – glycerol triglycidyl ether, pentaerythritol tetraglycidyl ether, and butyl glycidyl ether – was also studied. Maximum strength characteristics were achieved using DDS curing agent at 25%. For the “Etal Inject-T” system, compressive strength values of 140 MPa were obtained. It was shown that the addition of pentaerythritol tetraglycidyl ether at 10% simultaneously reduces the viscosity of the epoxy composition from 400 mPa·s to 280 mPa·s and increases compressive strength from 140 MPa to 155 MPa. The results demonstrate the high effectiveness of multifunctional glycidyl ethers for controlling the structure and mechanical properties of epoxy binders.

Keywords: epoxy resins, reactive diluents, curing agents, mechanical properties, viscosity, epoxy compositions.