Curing and thermal comparative study of rosin epoxy thermosets with bio-based imidoamines and commercial curing agents

This paper includes the curing of previously synthesized multifunctional bio-based epoxy resins (PEMPAE/TMPAE) with rosin-based imidoamine curing agents (IAMDK/IASDK/IAEDK) which are nucleophilic addition reaction products of diamino diphenyl ether (DDE) and dimaleopimaryl ketone (DMPK), a dehydrodecarboxylated derivative of MPA. Curing dynamics of rosin-based epoxy resins (PEMPAE/TMPAE) with rosin-based imidoamine curing agents (IAMDK/IASDK/IAEDK) were evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry. For comparison, the bio-based epoxy resins were also cured with rosin derivative dimaleopimaryl ketone (DMPK) and commercial-based diamino diphenyl ether (DDE). The universal testing machine and thermogravimetric analyzer) were used to measure the mechanical properties and thermal stability of the cured epoxy samples. The samples’ chemical resistance was assessed by calculating the weight loss in percent after they were submerged in solutions of NaOH, HCl, and NaCl. We also used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine the morphological changes. Rosin-based epoxy cured with imidoamine curing agents outperformed the commercial epoxy in terms of performance.