A high performance thermosetting epoxy resin crosslinkable at room temperature was obtained via directly moulding diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and flexible α

β-bisamino(n-alkylene)phenyl terminated poly(ethylene glycol). The influences of the n-alkylene inserted in aminophenyl of flexible amino-terminated polythers (ATPE) on the mechanical properties

fractographs and curing kinetics of the ATPE-DGEBA cured products were studied. The results show that the insertion of n-alkylene group into the aminophenyl group of the ATPE

on one hand

can significantly increase the strain relaxation rate and decrease glass transition temperature of the ATPE-DGEBA cured products

resulting in slight decrease of the Young’s modulus and tensile strength

and significant increase of the toughness and elongation of the ATPE-DGEBA cured products. On the other hand

it can remarkably enhance the reactivity of amine with epoxy

much accelerating the curing rate of the ATPE-DGEBA systems. The activation energy of DGEBA cured by BAPTPE

BAMPTPE and BAEPTPE was 53.1

28.5 and 25.4 kJ.mol-1

respectively. The as-obtained ATPE-DGEBA cured products are homogeneous

transparent

and show excellent mechanical properties including tensile strength and toughness. Thus they are promising to have important applications in structure adhesives

casting bulk materials

functional coatings

cryogenic engineering

damping and sound absorbing materials.