Understanding curing dynamics of arylacetylene and phthalonitrile thermoset blends

Abstract

Tetrakis(phenylethynyl)benzene (TPEB), a high char yield arylacetylene resin, was blended with a resorcinol‐based PEEK™‐like oligomeric phthalonitrile resin (Res). We observed the influence of each polymer precursor on the structural changes and material dynamics of different mixtures of these resins during thermal curing to produce thermosets with high char retention. We provide insight to help understand fundamental processes that control and tune this complex thermally driven curing mechanism, which, to date, has not been well understood. We show that an equivalent blend of Res and TPEB mitigates the exothermic curing process and exhibits a low viscosity, which may facilitate processing of these thermosetting blends for composite manufacturing. To obtain a more comprehensive overview of the different dynamics of these polymers during curing, we correlated thermodynamic changes with rheology, materials characterization, and molecular dynamics derived from neutron scattering. Our efforts shed more light on the thermally driven chemical changes, physical transformation, and gelation dynamics that drive or accompany softening and curing of these two distinct crosslinking resin groups.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Sep 24, 2022
Source ID
10.1002/pol.20220401

Entities

People

  • Boris Dyatkin
  • Eugene Mamontov
  • Jong K Keum
  • Matthew Laskoski
  • Naresh C Osti
  • Tristan Butler

Organizations

  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • United States Department of Energy
  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Polymer Science and Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design