Crosslinking and Degree of Cure of Thermosetting Materials

DSC is able to provide information about the reactivity and the crosslinking or degree of cure of a resin system. This is illustrated using an epoxy system as an example in this article. The measured heat of reaction is the sum of all thermally induced processes. The important data on the glass transition are obtained in the same measurements. Condensation resins that release volatile by-products or resin systems containing volatile components should be measured in sealed and pressure-tight crucibles.     

^{Crosslinking and degree of cure of thermosetting materials by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) | Thermal Analysis Application No. UC 109 | Application published in METTLER TOLEDO Thermal Analysis UserCom 10}