Epoxy resins, in the category of CASE chemicals and materials, are not only used for moisture barrier applications, but they are also commonly used for adhesive purposes. The strong properties of epoxy allow for structural and engineering uses. Some of their most interesting applications are found in the aerospace and automotive industries to produce lightweight parts which are complex composite structures.
Performing proper isothermal cure studies requires a DSC instrument with a very fast response time. This ensures that the sample and instrument can equilibrate quickly once the isothermal target temperature is achieved. A highly responsive DSC ensures that the entire curing exothermic peak will be obtained without losing valuable data.
This application note explores DSC analysis using PerkinElmer's Pyris Kinetics software, in conjunction with the high performance PerkinElmer Power Compensation DSC instrument to provide a powerful tool for analyzing cure and crosslinking reactions associated with thermosetting materials.