Skip to main content
. 2020 Aug 24;12(9):1908. doi: 10.3390/polym12091908

Table 3.

Brief summary of different IPN based systems investigated in literature for epoxy modification using thermosets.

Epoxy Toughener Morphology Investigated Properties Key Findings Ref.
DGEBA/NMA PDCPD Co-continuous phase-separated structures

  • Bond strength

  • Tensile strength

  • Fracture toughness

  • The blended epoxy system displayed better mechanical properties than the individual components.

  • The results showed an increase in energy dissipation mechanisms (i.e., fracture toughness) by increasing PDCPD content in epoxy.

  • The epoxy system having 70% of PDCPD exhibited bond strength of ~35% and ~125% higher than the neat epoxy and neat PDCPD, respectively.

 [69,70]
ECH BPAEDA -

  • Elemental analysis

  • Thermal properties

  • Elastic modulus

  • Failure strain

  • The nano-indentation results showed the elastic modulus of 16.7–715 MPa for modified epoxy system.

 [65]
BADCy FETI -

  • Elemental analysis

  • Thermal properties

  • Tensile strength

  • Impact strength

  • Rheology

  • The superior thermal and mechanical properties of blended epoxy were observed with the Tg of 303–312 °C, tensile strength of 87–95 MPa and impact strength of 27–37 kJ·m−2.

  • These enhancements were attributed to the presence of high fluorine content, low crosslinked density, high chain rigidity, and strong intra- and intermolecular interactions.

 [66]
DGEBA/IPD UP and VE
CF and GF		 Phase separation

  • Impact strength

  • Tensile strength

  • Thermal properties

  • Fracture toughness

  • The hybridization of epoxy with VE resulted in enhanced toughness, damping and energy absorbing properties as compared to the neat individual components at room temperature.

  • In case of composites, the same hybrid epoxy (EP/VE) showed better mechanical properties such as flexural strength and inter-laminar properties.

 [68]
DGEBA/DDM HTTE Sea-island morphology

  • Elemental analysis

  • Thermal properties

  • Fracture toughness

  • Impact strength

  • In this study, the fracture toughness was observed to increase with the increasing content of HTTE at room temperature.

  • The thermal stability of hybrid epoxy decreased with the increasing HTTE content but increased by changing the generation of HTTE from 1 to 3.

  • This increase in thermal stability of hybrid epoxy was linked with the increase in molar mass, intermolecular interactions of HTTE/epoxy and crosslink density.

 [64]
Bio-based epoxy resin ESO and PFA Non-homogenous network

  • Elemental analysis

  • Thermal properties

  • Tensile strength

  • Impact strength

  • The results showed that the incorporation of ESO and PFA in epoxy system resulted in 76.6% higher impact strength, as compared to the neat epoxy, which was associated to the addition of flexible ESO chains.

  • However, the tensile strength and glass transition temperature decreased by adding ESO and PFA in epoxy.

 [67]
DGEBS/DDS TGDDM Homogeneous morphology

  • Thermal properties

  • Fracture toughness

  • Elastic modulus

  • The incorporation of TGDDM into the epoxy/copolymer system resulted in increased glass transition temperature without affecting the fracture toughness.

 [71]
UVR/MHHPA TMPTMA, OMMTs and SLFs Two-phase morphology

  • Thermal properties

  • Bending strength

  • Impact strength

  • The mechanical and thermal properties of epoxy blend were enhanced by adding the fillers (OMMTs and SLFs).

  • The optimum toughening-strengthening properties were obtained by incorporating 0.5 wt % of SLFs and 4.8 wt % of OMMTs in epoxy blend.

 [63]