M DAREH - Master of Science student, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran I.R. Iran
M.H Beheshty - Professor, Department of Composites, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute, Tehran, I.R. Iran
S Bazgir - Associate Professor, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran I.R. Iran

In this study the effect of three different accelerators including 2,4,6-Tris(dimethylaminomethyl)phenol (DMP30), 2-Phenylimidazole (2-PhI) and 2-methyl imidazole (2-MI) were investigated on curing of dicyandiamide (Dicy)/epoxy resin system. Epoxy resin used in this study was based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA). The effects of type and concentration of accelerators on curing behavior were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and gel time measurements. Results show that 2-MI accelerator is more active than the others and show the lowest gel time among them. On the other hand, 2-PhI accelerator showed the highest glass transition temperature.

Epoxy resin, Curing agent, Accelerator, Curing behavior, DSC, Gel time.