Studies on the thickening reaction of polyester resins employed in sheet molding compounds

Abstract

The mechanism of the thickening reaction between alkaline earth metal oxides and acid group-terminated polyester resins was studied. The thickening can occur either by the increase in molecular weight of the resin through neutral salt formation or by complex formation between the basic salt and carbonyl oxygens. Simultaneous analysis of reacted resins for moisture content by near infrared spectroscopy and metal content by atomic spectroscopy was carried out to differentiate between the two possibilities. It was established that the amount of basic salt present in the reaction mixtures was small and hence the thickening appears to be due to neutral salt formation. The neutral salt formation reaction, being similar to condensation polymerization, could be modelled to predict the course of the thickening process as a function of time. A model proposed hypothesizes the thickening process to be heterogeneous in nature and to occur in a sequence of three steps: diffusion of metal oxide into the resin, reaction of the dissolved metal oxide with the resin to form the basic salt, and the further reaction of the basic salt with the resin to form the neutral salt. The model predicts all the observed features of the thickening process qualitatively. Further, quantitative agreement was obtained between experimental data and the theoretical predictions of plateau viscosities and in several aspects of the kinetics of the thickening process.