Thermal and mechanical interfacial properties of the DGEBA/PMR-15 blend system

In this work, the blend system of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A and PMR-15 polyimide is investigated in terms of thermal and dynamic mechanical interfacial properties of the casting specimens. The thermal stabilities are studied by thermogravimetric and thermomechanical analyses, and the dynamic mechanical properties are carried out by dynamic mechanical analysis. The results show that the thermal stabilities based on the initial decomposition temperature, the integral procedural decomposition temperature, and the glass transition temperature are increased with increasing PMR-15 content. The crosslinking density (ρ) of the blend system is increased at 10 phr of PMR-15, compared with that of neat epoxy. Mechanical interfacial properties measured in the context of critical stress intensity factor and critical strain energy release rate show similar behaviors with E_a and ρ, probably due to the increase in intermolecular interactions or hydrogen bondings in polymer chains.