Polyoxyethylene-Based Epoxy/Graphene Oxide Thermosetting Materials with Enhanced Storage Moduli

Epoxy resins have so many applications such as adhesives, coatings and castings [1]. However,in all these applications, they are brittle and rigid in nature, so its many end use applicationsare limited [2]. Therefore, many investigations have been performed with the aim oftoughening of epoxy polymers. A common method for preparing epoxy resins with hightoughness is based upon the participation of polyoxyalkylenes units into the network [3].In this work, along with two conventional monomers, i.e., diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A(DGEBA) and isophorone diamine (IPD) two polyoxyethylene-based macromonomers includingepoxy-terminated polyoxyethylene (ETPOE) and amine-terminated polyoxyethylene(ATPOE) are use to prepare the the corresponding epoxy networks. This maromonomers areinitially synthesized from polyethylene glycol. To reinforce the storage modulus (E values)the networks obtained, an aminated graphene oxide (AGO) with 0.1 wt.% is used for loadinginto the epoxy matrix. The resulting nanocomposites are fully charecterized by thermogravimetricanalysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) techniques.