A One-Component, Fast-Cure, and Economical Epoxy Resin System Suitable for Liquid Molding of Automotive Composite Parts

Yiru Wang; Wanshuang Liu; Yiping Qiu; Yi Wei

doi:10.3390/ma11050685

A One-Component, Fast-Cure, and Economical Epoxy Resin System Suitable for Liquid Molding of Automotive Composite Parts

Materials (Basel). 2018 Apr 27;11(5):685. doi: 10.3390/ma11050685.

Authors

Yiru Wang^{1

2}, Wanshuang Liu^{3

4}, Yiping Qiu^{5

6

7}, Yi Wei^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Textile Science &Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, China. yrwang90@sina.com.
² Center for Civil Aviation Composites, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, China. yrwang90@sina.com.
³ Key Laboratory of Textile Science &Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, China. wsliu@dhu.edu.cn.
⁴ Center for Civil Aviation Composites, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, China. wsliu@dhu.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Textile Science &Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, China. ypqiu@dhu.edu.cn.
⁶ Center for Civil Aviation Composites, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, China. ypqiu@dhu.edu.cn.
⁷ College of Textiles and Apparel, Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, Fujiang 362000, China. ypqiu@dhu.edu.cn.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Textile Science &Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, China. weiy@dhu.edu.cn.
⁹ Center for Civil Aviation Composites, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, China. weiy@dhu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Imidazole cured epoxy resin systems were evaluated for one-component, fast-curing resins for liquid molding of automotive composite parts according to industry requirements. It was demonstrated that an epoxy resin-1-(cyanoethyl)-2-ethyl-4-methylimidazol(EP-1C2E4MIM) system would cure in a few minutes at 120 °C, while exhibiting acceptable pot life, viscosity profiles, and low water absorption. Moreover, this system yielded high T_g parts with mechanical properties similar to the amine-epoxy systems, which are the mainstream two-component epoxy resin systems for automobiles.

Keywords: automotive; carbon fiber; economical composite parts; epoxy resin; imidazole.