A One-Component, Fast-Cure, and Economical Epoxy Resin System Suitable for Liquid Molding of Automotive Composite Parts

Materials (Basel). 2018 Apr 27;11(5):685. doi: 10.3390/ma11050685.

Abstract

Imidazole cured epoxy resin systems were evaluated for one-component, fast-curing resins for liquid molding of automotive composite parts according to industry requirements. It was demonstrated that an epoxy resin-1-(cyanoethyl)-2-ethyl-4-methylimidazol(EP-1C2E4MIM) system would cure in a few minutes at 120 °C, while exhibiting acceptable pot life, viscosity profiles, and low water absorption. Moreover, this system yielded high Tg parts with mechanical properties similar to the amine-epoxy systems, which are the mainstream two-component epoxy resin systems for automobiles.

Keywords: automotive; carbon fiber; economical composite parts; epoxy resin; imidazole.