Poly(melamine-formaldehyde) microcapsules filled with epoxy resin: effect of M/F ratio on the shell wall stability

In this article, we systematically investigated the effects of process parameters such as melamine to formaldehyde (M/F) ratio taken in the initial feed on the yield percent, core content, solvent wash stability, morphology, mean particle size distribution and thermal stability of the microcapsules. Epoxy loaded poly(melamine-formaldehyde) (PMF) microcapsules were prepared by in situ polymerization using emulsion technique. Capsules core content and solvent wash stability increased as the formaldehyde content increased. Structural (FTIR and 1H-NMR), morphological (optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)) and thermal (thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry) characterization was done to investigate the effects of M/F ratio on the synthesized microcapsules. The analysis of core material by FTIR and 1H-NMR spectra confirmed the presence of epoxy as the core material. OM and SEM micrographs showed that the prepared capsules were almost spherical with a perfect periphery, but showed the tendency to agglomerate as the ratio of M/F decreased. The mean particle size of epoxy filled PMF microcapsules decreased (from 87.1 µm to 67 µm) as the ratio of M/F increased. Thermal analysis showed that the microcapsules were thermally stable up to 373 °C. Thermal stability of microcapsules increased as the ratio of M/F increased. Such microcapsules are expected to find applications in the preparation of polymeric self-healing composites for aerospace industry.