LAUSR

Amide maleic anhydride-g-liquid polybutadience (AMALPB) was synthesized using maleic anhydride-g-liquid polybutadience (MALPB) with ethylenediamine (EDA), and its structure was confirmed by FTIR and 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, respectively. It was then used as a reactive toughening agent to make blends with diglycidyl end-capped poly(bisphenol-A-co-epichlorohydrin epoxy cured at room temperature. Their thermal decomposing behaviors did not show much difference because both EDA and AMALPB possessed similar aliphatic groups. All their glass transition temperatures (Tg) increased more than 10 °C than that of the neat epoxy, and with the addition of AMALPB, the blends were greatly strengthened upon heating as show from their storage moduli. When AMALPB was added at 10 wt %, its elongation at break increases to a maximum of 8.8% which was about two times higher than that of the neat epoxy, and its tensile strength also increased. However, the excessive addition of AMALPB resulted in an apparent decline in their tensile strength at content above 20%. The simultaneous improvements in both tensile strength and strain were attributed to the existence of well-dispersed rubber particles in the continuous matrices performing plastic deformation that resulted from the chemical bonds of interfaces among the rubber particles and matrix, and meanwhile, inducing the deflection of the cracks. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 135, 45985.