ATBN, amino-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile

ATBN amino-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer... 

The polyester resin used in this study, MR 13006 (Aristech Corporation), was supplied as a 60-wt% solution in styrene monomer. The epoxy resin, a digly-cidyl ether of bisphenol A (Epon 828), was obtained from Shell Chemical Company. The reactive liquid rubber, an amino-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymer (ATBN 1300 x 16), was provided by the BFGoodrich Company. The resin was mixed with additional styrene monomer to maintain the ratio of reactive unsaturation in the polyester-to-styrene monomer at 1 to 3. We added 1.5 wt% of tert-butylperbenzoate initiator to the solution, which we then degassed under vacuum. The mixture was poured between vertical, Teflon-coated, aluminum plates and cured under atmospheric pressure at 100 °C. In the modified compositions, the rubber was first dissolved in the styrene monomer, and then all the other components were added and the solution cured as described. In all the compositions, the ratio of the amine functions with respect to the epoxy functions was kept at 1 to ensure complete cure of the epoxy. 

Additives. Acrylonitrile-butadiene rubbers were provided by BFGood-rich (Brecksville, OH). The amino-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile (ATBN) rubber was obtained by reacting carboxyl-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile (CTBN) with an excess diamine, Unilink 4200 (from UOP, El Dorado Hills, CA) consequently, free diamine molecules always remained in the rubber. The rubbers have almost the same molar mass but different end groups, which have been characterized in a previous work (20). Their structures are given in Chart I, and they are described in Table I. The two poly(ether sulfone)s (PESs) (Victrex, from ICI, United Kingdom) used in this study are described in Table II. 

---