Theoretical studies of mechanisms of epoxy curing systems

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Publication Type dissertation
School or College College of Science
Department Chemistry
Author Pham, My-Phuong
Title Theoretical studies of mechanisms of epoxy curing systems
Date 2011-05
Description The epoxy resin market is faced with an ever increasing demand for a "designer" range of properties for the epoxy end-use products. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain a complete mechanism and accurate kinetic model that has predictive capabilities. This dissertation addresses the issue in two sections. The first section is an analysis of systematic theoretical studies on the mechanisms of four main curing reactions, epoxy-amine, epoxy-phenol, epoxy-acid and epoxy-anhydride, at the molecular-level using B3LYP density functional theory. The strength of these mechanistic models is their ability to extrapolate to different reactions that use a particular epoxy resin, a particular curing agent and/or a particular catalyst. The examination of all possible reaction pathways for each curing system can allow us to predict the most preferable pathway in the system and can enable the development of a more accurate kinetic model for the system. In addition, it provides insight into the role of tertiary amines in catalyzing the curing reaction. The second section involves the development of a new kinetic model for the epoxy-amine curing system guided by quantum chemistry calculations. This accurate kinetic model for an epoxy-amine curing system has the potential to be applied to other curing systems, solving successfully an industrial issue by quantum chemistry calculation.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Epoxy; Curing
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name Doctor of Philosophy
Language eng
Rights Management Copyright © My-Phuong Pham 2011
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 1,905,233 bytes
Identifier us-etd3,21112
Source Original housed in Marriott Library Special Collections, TP7.5 2011 .P43
ARK ark:/87278/s6tb1nmq
Setname ir_etd
ID 194435
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6tb1nmq