Thermal and viscoelastic properties of novel epoxy-dicyclopentadiene-terminated polyesters-styrene copolymers

This article presents the studies on the thermal and viscoelastic properties of novel epoxy-dicyclopentadiene-terminated polyesters-styrene copolymers. The novel materials were prepared during a three step process including the addition reaction of maleic acid to norbonenyl double bond of dicyclopentadiene; polycondensation of acidic ester of dicyclopentadiene, cyclohex-4-ene-dicarboxylic anhydride, maleic anhydride, and suitable glycol: ethylene, diethylene, or triethylene glycol; and the epoxidation process of prepared polyesters. It allowed obtaining novel epoxy-dicyclopentadiene-terminated polyesters which were successfully used as a component of different styrene content (10?C80?mass%) copolymers. The influence of the structures of polyester and styrene content on the cross-linking density (v _e), tg?? _max, tg?? _max height, storage modulus (E?? _20?°C), FWHM values as well as the thermal stability of copolymers was evaluated by TG, DSC, and DMA analyses and discussed.