Luminescence spectroscopy applied to a study of the curing process of diglycidyl-ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA)

this work involved the application of luminescence spectroscopy under steady-state conditions to study the curing process of the epoxy resin diglycidyl-ether of bisphenol-a (dgeba) using the curing agents 4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane (ddm) and 4,4'-diaminodiphenylsulfone (dds). two fluorescence methods were employed: the intrinsic method related to the polymeric matrix and the extrinsic method, using the molecular probe 9-anthroic acid (9-aa). stoichiometric mixtures, with and without 9-aa, were heated to 120 °c at a 5 °c/min heating rate. these samples were then cured at 120 °c for a further 2 hours and allowed to cool to room temperature for 20 minutes. the results obtained by the two methods indicate that the cross-linking reaction can be monitored by analyzing the spectral changes of the emission bands of dgeba, curing agents and 9-aa.