Thermal degradation of epoxy-silica organic-inorganic hybrid materials

Degradation kinetics of organic-inorganic hybrid materials based on epoxy resin was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The hybrid materials were prepared from diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and 3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GLYMO) polymerised simultaneously by poly(oxypropylene)diamine (Jeffamine D230). Nanometric level of homogeneity in the hybrids was verified by electron microscopy. Energy of activation of degradation processes for the hybrids with varying inorganic content, as well as for the unmodified epoxy-amine system, was determined by isoconversional Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose method, and was found to be significantly higher for the hybrid materials than for the unmodified epoxy-amine system. The degradation process was described by empirical kinetic models. The results indicated that presence of the inorganic network influences the mechanism of degradation of organic phase. Greater thermal stability of hybrid materials was confirmed by other parameters obtained from TGA curves.