CURABLE COMPOSITIONS
A curing agent composition including (a) at least one phenalkamine blended with (b) at least one styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound to form a curing agent composition for an epoxy compound; a curable resin composition including (I) at least one epoxy compound; and (II) at least one phenalkamine blended with (III) at least one styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound; and a thermoset prepared from the above curable composition.
1 . A curing agent composition comprising: (a) at least one phenalkamine; and (b) at least one styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound.
2 . The curing agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the phenalkamine comprises a phenalkamine produced from ethylenediamine.
3 . The curing agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the phenalkamine comprises polymer of cashew nutshell liquid with formaldehyde and ethylenediamine.
4 . The curing agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the phenalkamine compound comprises a product prepared by a Mannich reaction of cashew nutshell liquid with formaldehyde and a polyamine.
5 . The curing agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the phenalkamine compound comprises a compound defined by Structure (I) as follows:
wherein R 0 and R 0 ′ each can be a straight alkyl with 15 carbons and 0 to 3 C═C bond(s) or a straight alkyl with 17 carbons and 1 to 3 C═C bond(s); R 1 and R 2 each can be hydrogen (—H), hydroxyl (—OH); R c can be hydrogen (—H) or carboxyl (—COOH); a can be 0 to 2; b can be 0 or a natural number less than or equal to 20; c can be 0 or 1; a+b+c≠0; and X 1 , X 2 , and X 3 each can be a bivalent or multivalent group.
6 . The curing agent composition of claim 5 , wherein R 0 and R 0 ′ each can be a straight alkyl with 15 carbons and 0 to 3 C═C bond(s) selected from the group consisting of —C 15 H 31 , —C 15 H 29 , —C 15 H 27 , and —C 15 H 25 , or a straight alkyl with 17 carbons and 1 to 3 C═C bond(s) selected from the group consisting of —C 17 H 33 , —C 17 H 31 , and —C 17 H 29 .
7 . The curing agent composition of claim 5 , wherein X 1 , X 2 , and X 3 each can be a bivalent or multivalent group selected from the group consisting of an ethylene aliphatic, an amino ethylene, a polyoxyalkylene, acycloaliphatic, an aromatic, and a polycyclic structure.
8 . The curing agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the at least one styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound includes two substances in which a phenol or phenol novolac has at least one alpha-methylbenzyl or alpha,alpha-dimethylbenzyl substituent.
9 . The curing agent composition of claim 8 , wherein the alpha,alpha-dimethylbenzyl derivative carries one or more t-butyl groups.
10 . The curing agent composition of claim 9 , wherein the t-butyl groups are introduced by including isobutylene as a reactant in the composition.
11 . The curing agent composition of claim 8 , wherein the at least one styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound is prepared from phenol or phenol novolac by acid-catalyzed alkylation with styrene or alpha-methylstyrene.
12 . The curing agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the weight ratio of the phenalkamine to the styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound is sufficient to form a curing agent composition for an epoxy compound.
13 . The curing agent composition of claim 12 , wherein the weight ratio of the phenalkamine to the styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound is from about 1:1 to about 99:1.
14 . The curing agent composition of claim 1 , wherein the curing agent composition has an exotherm release peak temperature at ambient temperature of less than about 125° C. while the curing agent composition maintains a reactivity of less than about 150 minutes.
15 . A process for preparing a curing agent composition comprising admixing: (a) at least one phenalkamine and (b) at least one styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound to form a curing agent composition for an epoxy compound.
16 . A curable composition comprising: (I) at least one epoxy compound; (II) at least one phenalkamine, and (III) at least one styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound.
17 . The curable composition of claim 16 , wherein the epoxide compound comprises at least one liquid epoxy resin (LER) component to form the epoxy matrix in a final curable composition.
18 . The curable composition of claim 16 , including a second curing agent separate and different from compounds (II) and (III), a filler, a reactive diluent, a flexibilizing agent, a processing aide, a toughening agent, or a mixture thereof.
19 . A process for preparing a curable composition comprising admixing: (I) at least one epoxy compound; (II) at least one phenalkamine; and (III) at least one styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound.
20 . A process for preparing a thermoset comprising:
(i) providing a mixture of: (I) at least one epoxy compound; and (II) at least one phenalkamine; and (III) at least one styrenated phenol or styrenated phenol novolac compound; and
(ii) curing the curable composition of step (i).
21 . The process of claim 20 , wherein the curing step (ii) is carried out at a temperature of from about 15° C. to about 25° C.; and at a relative humidity of 55±5 percent.
22 . A cured thermoset article prepared by the process of claim 20 .
23 . The cured thermoset article of claim 22 , wherein the thermoset is a composite.