Nonisothermal Cure Kinetics of Epoxy/Mnxfe3-Xo4 Nanocomposites Publisher



Jouyandeh M^{1, 2} ; Paran SMR^{1, 2} ; Khadem SSM¹ ; Ganjali MR^{1, 3} ; Akbari V⁴ ; Vahabi H^{5, 6} ; Saeb MR⁴
Source: Progress in Organic Coatings Published:2020

Abstract

Nonisothermal cure kinetic of epoxy containing bare and Mn doped Fe3O4 nanoparticles was studied through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The evolution of the apparent activation energy (Eα) as a function of the extent of curing reaction was evaluated by using model-free integral Kissinger and differential Friedman isoconversional methods. Mn2+ cations in the MnxFe3- xO4 were the reason for facilitated epoxy curing reaction, as proved by a lower values of Eα obtained for the corresponding nanocomposite. Moreover, MnxFe3- xO4 nanoparticles increased the average autocatalytic reaction order from 0.48 for neat epoxy to 0.52 for epoxy/Mn-Fe3O4 nanocomposite due to the participation of hydroxyl groups on the surface of nanoparticle in epoxide ring opening. Addition of Fe3O4 and Mn-Fe3O4 nanoparticles decreased collisions between the curing moieties, as reflected in a drop in the frequency factor from ca. 18.9 for neat epoxy to 13.4 and 14.9 for epoxy nanocomposites containing 0.1 wt.% of Fe3O4 and Mn-Fe3O4, respectively. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.