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Fluorescent aggregate structure revealed in bisphenol F epoxy thermoset

Bisphenol F (BPF) epoxy resin is a prepolymer component of thermosets used in construction of reinforced carbon fiber composites (RCFC). The fluorescence of this resin can provide information about chemical and structural alterations of the thermoset from thermal or mechanical damage. While some work has investigated the fluorescence spectra of bisphenol A epoxy resin, a structural analog of BPF, none have studied BPF. The purpose of this study is to investigate the baseline fluorescence spectra of the BPF epoxy resin for features that could be utilized for monitoring damage and structural alterations. Bisphenol F epoxy resin was found to have two emission peaks with a broad peak centered at 410 nm and a sharp peak centered at 550 nm. The broad emission peak was identified as the fluorescence from BPF epoxy monomer while the sharp emission peak was found to be from an aggregate structure present in the epoxy resin. It is hypothesized that this structure is an H-aggregate based on the emission features and structural stability of the aggregate compared to the alternative J-aggregate which was determined via density functional theory calculations. The H-aggregate was found to persist into one of the cured thermoset formulations evaluated but was lost when exposed to elevated temperatures below thermal degradation of the thermoset. This loss of aggregate structure was due to polymer network rearrangement. This new fluorescence signature can be used as an indicator of polymer network rearrangement from thermal exposure which may alter the expected material performance and precede thermal degradation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Regioisomer-Specific Crystallization of Diglycidyl Ether of Bisphenol F Epoxy Resin

Diglycidyl ether of bisphenol F (DGEBF) is a common industrial epoxy resin, desired for its possible replacement of the bisphenol A (BPA) analogue DGEBA due to potential health hazards of BPA. During curing, crystallization of the DGEBF resin can cause inaccurate resin-to-hardener ratios, resulting in incomplete crosslinking; therefore, understanding the crystallization of DGEBF is important for proper industrial control of the material. Here, in this work, we utilized a combination of single-crystal x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and 1 H-NMR to investigate the crystallization of DGEBF. We observed crystallization of two DGEBF regioisomers: ortho-ortho’-DGEBF and ortho-para’-DGEBF, and report their crystal structures. Notably, para-para’-DGEBF crystallization is not observed, indicating crystallization of this regioisomer does not occur under ambient conditions. Density functional theory calculations were performed to describe the phonon modes of the ortho-ortho’- and ortho-para’-DGEBF structures, corroborating Raman signatures for the respective isomers. Using a phonon mode analysis, we identify the presence of three specific optical vibrational modes at 631.3, 344.1, and 345.6 cm -1 that are unique to the para monomer. This work offers insights into the crystallization behavior of DGEBF resins under ambient conditions and may inform potential industrial application of this material.

Neu, Jennifer [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL↗

Product specific thermal degradation kinetics of bisphenol F epoxy in inert and oxidative atmospheres using evolved gas analysis–mass spectrometry

Knowledge of the degradation kinetics for polymer materials is important for understanding thermal stability. In this study, evolved gas analysis–mass spectrometry and pyrolysis gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry were evaluated for the potential to deliver additional insight into thermal degradation kinetics of diglycidal ether of bisphenol F (DGEBF) epoxy thermoset under inert and oxidative atmospheres. Degradation products of selected precursor ions were evaluated for their uniqueness to the specific precursor using extracted ion thermographs. Unique mass peaks, solely attributed to a single reaction pathway of a specific product, were determined from extracted ion thermographs and used to determine both activation energy (E a ) and pre-exponential factors for the specific primary reaction pathways. These primary reaction pathways for DGEBF epoxy degradation were then evaluated in the context of transition state theory (TST) and related transition state enthalpies (ΔH ‡ ) and entropies (ΔS ‡ ) of activation to further elucidate the degradation process. It was determined under pyrolysis conditions, as suggested by the E a , the formation of bisphenol F monomer was the rate-limiting step toward the formation of xanthene and phenol. In contrast, under thermo-oxidative conditions, reactions involving oxygen containing species were identified as the rate-limiting step for all observed products based on the large negative ΔS ‡ calculated from TST. This work demonstrates a powerful combination of technique and theory that can provide new insight into the degradation of polymer materials.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Influence of temperature on accessible pyrolysis pathways of homopolymerized bisphenol A/F epoxies and copolymers

Understanding the thermal pyrolysis of epoxies and their copolymers is important for identifying structural changes resultant from thermal transients, enabling identification of failure modes of high-performance composite materials. This work expands our understanding of the thermal pyrolysis of cured epoxies and the role of temperature and composition on products, pathways, and relative rates. Numerous researchers have explored the pyrolysis of bisphenol A (BPA) epoxy. Significantly fewer have studied bisphenol F (BPF), and copolymers of BPA and BPF have been neglected. In this work, a pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometer (PY-GC-MS) was used to investigate the degradation mechanism of homopolymerized BPA, BPF epoxies and their copolymers. Additionally, for polymer identification, pyrolysis >450 °C resulted in the most extensive fragmentation and is useful for material identification, though lower temperatures show different degradation product profiles that provide mechanistic insight into thermal degradation pathways. Temperature greatly influences the accessible pyrolysis pathways of BPA, revealing dual mechanisms of formation for products p-isopropylphenol and p-isopropenylphenol. For BPF at low pyrolysis temperature the p,p-bisphenol F isomer is produced at significantly lower relative abundance compared to the abundance at higher temperatures tested, but production of the other two isomers changes little with respect to temperature. This suggests the epoxy components consisting of the p,p-bisphenol F isomer have higher thermal stability. Overall, the copolymer epoxies were found to have similar degradation products in stoichiometric distributions. The major exception was the formation of the p,p-bisphenol F isomer, which shows evidence of thermal stabilizing effects from addition of BPA epoxy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Product-specific kinetics reveal effect of epoxy crystallization on thermoset thermal degradation

Crystallization is a common problem for epoxy resins, which are ubiquitous in industrial and commercial use. Integration of crystallized epoxy monomers into cured thermosets has been shown to alter the thermosets’ final mechanical properties. However, no studies have investigated the impact of these crystals on the thermal stability of the thermoset. Here we investigate the degradation kinetics of a bisphenol F–based epoxy thermoset with and without crystallized monomers using Product-Specific Kinetic (PSK) analysis coupled with Evolved Gas Analysis-Mass Spectrometry (EGA-MS). PSK analysis revealed significant differences in evolved product ion kinetics, suggesting changes in the degradation kinetics between thermoset configurations. Further, it was concluded that early stages of degradation are influenced most by crystal presence due to the high concentration of unreacted epoxy monomers and lower cross-linking density of the cured network. After post-cure annealing, significant changes are observed in the degradation kinetics of thermosets without crystal inclusions. Conversely, post-cure annealing procedures of crystal integrated thermosets showed little change in the thermoset degradation kinetics across all conversion extents. These findings suggest that post-cure annealing of thermosets with crystals present at the onset does not alter the cross-linking density of the polymer network enough to significantly change the degradation kinetics. We hypothesize this is because the excess monomers from the melted crystals are unable to find suitable reaction sites for complete binding into the polymer network, which has direct implications for the material properties and final thermal stability of the thermoset.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Acid external and internal environment exchange the Oreochromis niloticus tissue immune gene expression compared to the mouse macrophage polarization model

The water environment plays an important role in animal physiology. In this study, we sought to evaluate the effect of the acid environment on the Oreochromis niloticus (Nile tilapia) internal microenvironment immune response compare to the mouse macrophage model (J77A.1). The acid environment treated mouse macrophage J774A.1 model have shown that acidic treatment is able to polarize macrophages into M2-like macrophages via an increase in Ym1, Tgm2, Arg1, Fizz1, and IL-10 expression. Metabolic analysis of mouse macrophages (J774A.1) at pH 2 vs. pH 7 and pH 4 vs. pH 7 have been shown to promote the expression of intracellular acetylcholine, choline, prochlorperazine, L-leucine, and bisphenol A,2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f] quinolone metabolites in the M2-like macrophage. Immune gene expression of the O. niloticus spleen and liver treated at pH 2, 4, and 7 was shown to reduce TNF-α, IL-1 β, IL-8, and IL-12 expression compared to pH 7 treatment. Immune gene was induced in O. niloticus following culture at pH 5, 6, and 7 fresh water environment. Taken together, we found that the acid internal environment polarizes tissues into an M2 macrophage developmental microenvironment. However, if the external environment is acid, tissues are exposed to an M1 macrophage developmental microenvironment.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Development of tough, moisture resistant laminating resins

Tough, moisture resistant laminating resins for employment with graphite fibers were developed. The new laminating resins exhibited cost, handleability and processing characteristics equivalent to 394K (250 F) curing epoxies. The laminating resins were based on bisphenol A dicyanate and monofunctional cyanates with hydrophobic substituents. These resins sorb only small quantities of moisture at equilibrium (0.5% or less) with minimal glass transition temperature depression and represent an improvement over epoxies which sorb around 2% moisture at equilibrium. Toughening was accomplished by the precipitation of small diameter particles of butadiene nitrile rubber throughout the resin matrix. The rubber domains act as microcrack termini and energy dissipation sites, allowing increased stress accommodation prior to catastrophic failure. A unique blend of amine terminated butadiene nitrile elastomer (MW 2,000) and a high nitrile content butadiene nitrile rubber yielded the desired resin morphology.

Brand, R. A.↗

Free-volume characteristics of epoxies

Positron annihilation spectroscopy was used to measure free-volume characteristics of selected epoxies. Fluorene resins, a new family of high-temperature thermosetting resins, were selected as the test medium. Experimental results indicate that the free-volume cell size V sub f varies with the molecular weight between the cross-links M sub c according to an equation of the form V sub f = AM sub c sup B, where A and B are structural constants. In two of the samples, the concentration of bulky fluorene groups was increased in the network backbone by replacement of some of the conventional bisphenol A epoxy resin with fluorene-derived epoxy resin. This resulted in an increase in their glass transition temperature for a given level of cross-linking. It was found that in these samples, the Doppler broadening of the annihilation peak decreases with the increasing fluorene content, presumably due to enhanced damping of the chain motions.

Singh, Jag J.↗

Measurement of the degree of cure in epoxies with ultrasonic velocity

The use of ultrasonic longitudinal velocity values to measure the degree of cure (defined for an epoxide system as the concentration of epoxide/amine bonds divided by the initial epoxide concentration) in epoxy resins is investigated. The experimental setup used to measure the changes in longitudinal velocity with time is described, together with the technique used to calculate the degree of cure from the acoustic data, using the principle of additive module. Measurements were done with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A epoxy resin cured with an amine adduct agent. Good qualitative agreement was shown between the time dependence of the acoustically measured degree of cure and the predicted rate of reaction.

Winfree, W. P.↗

Morphology and Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Diglycidyl Ether of Bisphenol-A Toughened with Carboxyl-Terminated Butadiene-Acrylonitrile

The fracture toughness of an incorporation of a carboxyl-terminated butadiene acrylonitrile (CTBN) elastomer in diglycidyl ether bisphenol A (DGEBA) resin was investigated. Measurements of dynamic mechanical properties, scanning electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering were carried out to characterize the state of cure, morphology and particle size and size distribution of the neat resins and their graphite fiber reinforced composites.

Hong, S. D.↗

New aromatic activated dihalides and bisphenol monomers for the preparation of novel poly(arylene ethers)

The goal of this research program was to synthesize a series of unique monomers of type I to be utilized at NASA-Langley in the preparation of new poly(arylene ether ketones), poly(arylene ether ketosulfones), and poly(arylene ether ketophosphine oxides). These A-A and A-B monomer systems, which possess activated aryl halide and/or phenolic end groups, are accessible via condensation reactions of appropriately substituted aryl acetonitrile carbanions with activated aryl dihalides followed by oxidative decyanation.

Wolfe, James F.↗

Simulated space environment effects on the optical properties of poly(arylene ethers)

Results are reported from a study of the stability of poly(arylene ethers) formed in a reaction of 1,3 -bis(4-chlorobenzoyl)benzene and various bisphenols after experiencing long-term exposure to space conditions. Transparent poly(arylene ethers) films were subjected to separate electron and UV bombardments, as were polysulfone and Kapton films for comparisons. The order of exposure to the two types of radiation was reversed for two sample populations. The optical properties and glass transition temperatures of the samples were determined after irradiation. The poly(arylene ethers) films exhibited good resistance to the electron radiation but suffered severe degradation in the UV environment. The loss of optical transmissivity was proportional to the UV radiation dose.

Sykes, George F.↗

Ultrasonic characterization of changes in viscoelastic properties of epoxy during cure

A technique for using the longitudinal velocity (LV) of an ultrasonic wave to monitor the extent of cross linking (CL) during the cure of thermosetting resins is described. The method was developed by monitoring the rate of change in LV during the cure of a bisphenol-A epoxy resin with an amine adduct. The experiment included variations in the temperature and stoichiometry in order to express the rate of change in terms of the reaction kinetics. The pulse-echo method was used with a single transducer operating at 20 MHz. Numerical models were defined to account for the acoustic response of a single layer, the attenuation and the reflection coefficient. A linear relationship was observed between the inverse of the temperature and the log of the rate of change in the velocity, supporting the theory that the velocity could be used to monitor the extent of the cross-linking reaction. An activation energy of 11.9 kcal/mole was calculated for the mixture being investigated.

Winfree, W. P.↗

Molecular deformation and stress-strain behavior of poly(bisphenol-A-diphenyl sulfone)

The strain-birefringence response of poly(bisphenol-A-diphenyl sulfone) is found to be independent of temperature at temperatures below -100 C; at higher temperatures, the response becomes slightly dependent on temperature, with lower birefringence seen at higher temperatures. The stress-strain behavior and the stress-birefringence response both depend on temperature over the entire testing temperature range (-179 C to 150 C) studied; this dependence, however, is not pronounced. The evidence is seen as suggesting that the polymer molecules respond to deformation by undergoing conformational rearrangements; the mode of the molecular deformation remains unchanged for temperatures of -100 C or lower. At higher temperatures, the average length of the chain segments involved in the rearrangement increases. The stress-strain response is attributed mainly to chain orientation. The entropic contribution deriving from chain orientation at temperatures below -100 C is still substantial. The modest temperature dependence of the stress-strain response suggests that the energy barriers for the chain segments involved in the rearrangement are relatively low.

Hong, S.-D.↗