Chemical Rheological Behavior of New High Temperature Resistant Silicon-Containing Arylethyleneacetylene Resin

Zinc powder catalyzed synthesis of silicon-containing arylethyleneacetylene resin (PSEA) is liquid at room temperature, showing excellent heat resistance property, glorious dielectric property, as well as outstanding processing performance, which is thus widely used in the field of aeronautics & astronautics. Resin transfer molding (RTM) is a material processing method which could let the flow of low viscosity (less than 500 mPa·s) resin impregnate reinforcement material, and make it be cured and formed in a closed cavity. RTM process is extensively used in the aerospace and automotive industries due to the low porosity, good mechanical properties, high dimensional stability advantages of the resulting products. Such a RTM process is applicable to PSEA resin in this work, the chemical rheological behavior of PSEA resin was investigated. The relationship between gelation time (t_gel) and the corresponding temperature was studied by small plate knife within the temperature range of 423—463 K during the gelation and curing. Furthermore, the gelation equation model was established, and the model theoretical results were in good consistent with the experimental data. The relationship between rheological characteristics and temperature of PSEA resin was investigated by rotating viscometer and plate rheometer. The experimental results show that the resin has a long low viscosity retention period within the temperature range of 373—403 K, and retention time is longer than 4 h, which make the resin easy to process and meet the requirements of the RTM process. On the basis of the relationship among resin viscosity, time and temperature, the dual-Arrhenius viscosity equation model was established, and the theoretical results of the equation model were in good agreement with the experimental data, providing scientific theoretical fundamentals for the preparation of composite materials by resin RTM molding.