Anhydride curatives

Phthalic anhydride and its hydrogenated derivatives are among the more common anhydride curatives. They provide more rigidity to the cured epoxy resins than linear anhydrides because of the cyclic structures and the ability to crosslink multifunctional epoxy resins. Tetrahydrophthalic anhydride (56) and it derivatives, such as methyltetrahydrophthalic anhydride have been described in coating and adhesive compositions... 

The catalytic effect has been explained in terms of the activation of the anhydride by interaction with the amine to give a zwitterionic intermediate (47 Scheme 10) (B-68MI11501). Imidazoles have also been suggested as accelerators for anhydride cures (68USP3394105). A review of the patent literature (B-77MI11502) shows that several heterocyclic compounds are of interest as curatives for epoxy resins. 

Whereas most room temperature curing epoxy adhesives are cured with aliphatic amines, polyamides, or amidoamines, most elevated-temperature curing epoxy adhesives are cured with aromatic amines, modified aliphatic amines, alcoholic and phenolic hydroxyls, acid anhydrides, Lewis acids, and a host of other curatives. Latent curing agents, such as dicyan-diamide and imidazoles, are typically used in one-component epoxy adhesives systems. 

Epoxide adhesives comprise epoxy resin, many of which are prepared from phenols and epichlorohydrin, for example, the diglycidyl ether of bis-phenol A or bis-phenol F usually, these resins are a mixtnre of molecular weights blended to fit the applications. The most-common cnratives for epoxy resins are polyanfines (used in stoichiometric amounts), usually a chain-extended primary aliphatic amine, for example, diethylene triamine or triethylene tetraamine or chain-extended equivalents, which react rapidly with the epoxy resin at room temperature. Aromatic amines react slowly at room temperature but rapidly at higher temperatures. Most epoxide adhesives also contain catalysts, typically, tertiary amines. Dicyanimide is the most-common curative for one-component high-temperature-cured epoxide adhesives. Mercaptans or anhydrides are used as curatives for epoxide adhesives for specialist applications, for example, for high-speed room-temperature cures or for electronic applications. A smaller number of epoxide adhesive are cured by cationic polymerization catalysed by Lewis acids photogenerated at the point of application. Lewis acid photoinitiators include diaryliodonium and triarly sulphonium salts. See Radiation-cured adhesives. 

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