Microwave radiation and thermal heating were performed on the epoxy Araldite GY6010, which is a resin of di-glycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA). The three types of curing agents used were 4,4’-Diamino-di-phenyl-sulfone (DDS), 4,4’Diamino-diphenyl-methane (DDM) and meta-Phenylene-diamine (mPDA). Thermal cure temperatures were determined between the onset and midway to the peak temperature of the freshly prepared epoxy/amine systems of the DSC exotherm curves. Microwave curing of the epoxy/amine systems was carried out with a 1.1 kW variable power generator with a 2.45 GHz magnetron coupled to a multimodal cavity through a wave guide. Curing was done between 200 W and 600 W microwave power. The curing was strongly dependent on the curing agent used. A low degree of cure at a relatively low microwave power was observed in DGEBA/DDS system, and has been attributed to the sluggish reaction of DDS with epoxy, resulting in the entrapment of the functional group in the cross-link network. DDM and mPDA were more reactive than DDS and
gave relatively faster full curing times than DDS. 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.