| Abstract: | Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes epoxy resin (POSSER) was prepared from 3-glycidypropyl-trimethoxysilane (GTMS) and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) by hydrolytic condensation. POSSER was characterized using Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), 1H-NMR, and liquid chromagraphy/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). The epoxy value of POSSER is 0.50 mol/100 g. The LC/MS analysis indicated that T10 is the majority and contain some amount of T8, besides, a trace T9 also exists. The curing kinetics of POSSER with 4,4′-diaminodipheny sulfone (DDS) as a curing agent was investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The curing reaction order n is 0.8841 and the activation energy Ea is 61.06 kJ/mol from dynamic DSC analysis. Thermal stability and kinetics of thermal degradation were also studied by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). TGA results indicated that the temperature of POSSE/DDS system 5% weight loss is approximately 377.0°C, which is higher by 12.6°C than that of pure POSSER, and the primary degradation reaction (300–465°C) followed first order kinetics; the activation energy of degradation reaction is 75.81 kJ/mol. |
