Impedance spectroscopy of reactive polymers. 2. Multifunctional epoxy/amine formulations

Dielectric measurements were utilized to follow the advancement of cure in a bifunctional and a tetrafunctional epoxy/amine formulation. In deferance to earlier dielectric studies of cure, complex impedance was measured and used to calculate ionic resistivity. By using complex impedance we were able to separate, according to their frequency dependence, the contributions to overall polarization from electrode blocking layers, mobile charge carriers, and dipole relaxations. At any stage of cure, there is a unique frequency at which ionic resistivity can be singularly measured. Our approach does not involve trial‐and‐error frequency search, it measures dielectric response in real time, and is conducive to the development of phenomenological models based on equivalent circuits. Values of ionic resistivity measured at different cure time and temperature were used to quantify the progress of cure. Excellent agreement was reported between the calculated values of normalized degree of cure obtained by dielectric and calorimetric measurements. It was suggested that apart from the extrinsic conductivity by ionic impurities, an intrinsic mechanism which involves the reactive molecules contributes to the overall ionic conductivity. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.