• Composites Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.47-53
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• 2004

In this work, two thermal latent catalysts, i.e., N-benzylpyrazinium hexafluoroantimonate (BPH) and benzyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazinium hexafluoroantimonate (BDPH), were synthesized. The cure behaviors and thermal stabilities of diglycidylether of bisphenol A (DCEBA) epoxy resins initiated by 1 wt.% of the catalysts were investigated by DSC, NIR, TCA, and DMA Latent properties of the catalysts were examined by conversion of epoxy resins using NIR from $100^{\circ}C$ to $180^{\circ}C$ From the resultes of near-IR, DGEBA/BPH system showed higher conversion than that of DGEBA/BDPH system. The thermal stabilities of DGEBA/BDPH system based on the initial decomposition temperature (IDT) and integral procedural decomposition (IPDT) were relatively lower than those of DCEBA/BPH system. These could be attributed to the hindered structure of BDPH, resulting in decreasing the thermal stability in the DGEBA/BDPH system.