The glass transition in cured epoxy thermosets: A comparative molecular dynamics study in coarse-grained and atomistic resolution
- Eduard-Zintl-Institut für Anorganische und Physikalische Chemie and Center of Smart Interfaces, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Alarich Weiss Straße 4, D-64287 Darmstadt (Germany)
- Center for Technology Innovation – Mechanical Engineering, Research & Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd., 832-2, Horiguchi, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki 312-0034 (Japan)
We investigate the volumetric glass transition temperature T{sub g} in epoxy thermosets by means of molecular dynamics simulations. The epoxy thermosets consist of the resin bisphenol A diglycidyl ether and the hardener diethylenetriamine. A structure based coarse-grained (CG) force field has been derived using iterative Boltzmann inversion in order to facilitate simulations of larger length scales. We observe that T{sub g} increases clearly with the degree of cross-linking for all-atomistic (AA) and CG simulations. The transition T{sub g} in CG simulations of uncured mixtures is much lower than in AA-simulations due to the soft nature of the CG potentials, but increases all the more with the formation of rigid cross-links. Additional simulations of the CG mixtures in contact with a surface show the existence of an interphase region of about 3 nm thickness in which the network properties deviate significantly from the bulk. In accordance to experimental studies, we observe that T{sub g} is reduced in this interphase region and gradually increases to its bulk value with distance from the surface. The present study shows that the glass transition is a local phenomenon that depends on the network structure in the immediate environment.
- OSTI ID:
- 22493388
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Chemical Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Chemical Physics Journal Issue: 24 Vol. 143; ISSN JCPSA6; ISSN 0021-9606
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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