2026 (2) 2
https://doi.org/10.15407/polymerj.48.02.060
THERMO–OXIDATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF MODIFIED EPOXY
COMPOSITES
Larysa YASHCHENKO* (ORCID: 0000-0002-0736-8073)
Nataliia YAROVA (ORCID: 0000-0002-3347-8073)
Oleksandr BROVKO (ORCID: 0000-0003-0238-1137)
Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the NAS of Ukraine, 48 Kharkivske Highway, Kyiv 02155, Ukraine
*Corresponding author.
E-mail: lara.yashchenko@gmail.com
Polimernyi Zhurnal, 2026, 48, no. 2: 60-71
Section: Structure and properties
Language: Ukrainian.
Received 06.04.2026
Accepted 07.05.2026
Published 24.06.2026
Abstract
Novel silicon-containing epoxy oligomers were produced by grafting hydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) onto epoxy resin using a 3- aminopropyltriethoxysilane spacer. Three series of polymer composites were obtained by curing with different hardeners, namely oligoaminoamide PO-300 (SEP), modified cycloaliphatic polyamine Ancamine 2752 (SEA), and iso-methyltetrahydrophthalic anhydride i-MTHPA (SEI), designated as SEP-, SEA, and SEI-series, respectively. The effects of hardener type and PDMS content on the thermo-oxidative behavior of the modified epoxy polymers were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It was found that adding as little as 0.1 phr of PDMS drastically affects the thermo-oxidative characteristics of the cured samples. Thus, the composites of the KEP and KEA series, which contain 0.1 phr and (0.1 – 0.5) phr of PDMS, respectively, exhibit better thermal stability, which can be explained mainly by the presence of the PDMS modifier, which acts as a crosslinker and suppresses the diffusion of volatile substances within the composites. The KEI-series samples decompose in two stages and exhibit a significantly lower initial thermal stability parameter (T5%) than the neat EI composite. The Tmax values decrease by 5 – 14 °C as the PDMS content increases, and the maximum weight loss decreases to 73.8%. The calculation of the temperature-conversion characteristics of the composites’ destruction process showed that at low PDMS content (0.1-0.25 phr), the degree of conversion tends to decrease, indicating improved stability under thermo-oxidative destruction. Conversely, a decrease in the maximum weight loss rate temperature, Tmax, indicates reduced thermal stability of the composites. Studies of long-term (360 hours) isothermal aging behavior of epoxy composite films at 150°C in an air atmosphere showed that the maximum weight loss rate of epoxy composites containing small PDMS additives is significantly lower than that of the neat epoxy composite and depends on the type of hardener and, correspondingly, the curing conditions used.
Keywords: epoxy resin, hydroxyl-terminated polydimethylsiloxane, silicon-containing oligomer, hardeners, thermal stability.
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