Structural Variation and Chemical Performance—A Study of the Effects of Chemical Structure upon Epoxy Network Chemical Performance

Epoxy resins are used widely as protective coatings, in a wide range of harsh chemical environments. This work explores the influence subtle structural variation both epoxy and amine monomers upon performance cured networks, whether changing molecular geometry, nature chemistry, or mass between cross-linking reactive groups. To achieve this, four industrially relevant (two based on bisphenol A—Epikote 828 (E828) Dow Resin 332 (DER 332)—and two F—Dow 354 354) Araldite PY306 (PY306)) isomerically pure para–para-diglycidyl ether F (ppDGEBF) were to explore caused by monomer variation. Four similar amines (meta-xylylenediamine (MXDA), para-xylylenediamine (PXDA), 1,3-bis(aminomethyl)cyclohexane (1,3-BAC), 1,4-bis(aminomethyl)cyclohexane (1,4-BAC)) any variations regioisomerism aromaticity. Bisphenol F-based found outperform A-based analogues, chain extension within component was be detrimental performance. For amines, 1,3-substitution (vs 1,4) aromaticity beneficial