Nonisothermal cure kinetics

For nonisothermal cure experiments it is not necessary to perform the experiment in heat-only conditions. However, for curing experiments, it is advisable to use larger modulation amplitudes with low underlying heating rates, to improve the accuracy of the heat capacity measurement. The amplitude of the temperature modulation should not exceed a certain value in order to limit its effect on the cure kinetics. Typical modulation amplitudes range within 0.1-1 °C. 

Bmardic, M. Ivankovic, H. Ivankovic, and H. J. Mercer. Isothermal and nonisothermal cure kinetics of an epoxy/poly(oxypropylene)diamine/octadecyl-ammonium modified montmorillonite system. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 100 (2006), 1765 1771. 

In139) the researchers studied the nonisothermal kinetics of polyaddition reactions of oxiranes to aromatic amines up to high conversion levels, as well as the kinetic laws governing the curing of epoxide oligomers by diamines under the conditions of a propagating reaction front. 

In fact, nonisothermal temperature cure is a different process from isothermal cure. The reaction kinetics, total reaction order, and even the reaction energy for epoxy systems may not be constant and same, but process dependent. Therefore, modifications need to be made to reflect the effects of such a difference. 

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