Epoxy resin composition, prepreg, fiber-reinforced composite material, and method for producing same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11186674-B2
Application number	US-201816611351-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2018
Priority date	May 10, 2017
Publication date	Nov 30, 2021
Grant date	Nov 30, 2021

Abstract

Provided is a fiber-reinforced composite material exhibiting high heat resistance and excellent appearance quality. is the composite material is based on an epoxy resin composition which contains constituents [A], [B], and [C] and satisfies conditions (i) and (ii):[A] a tri- or higher functional epoxy resin;[B] an aromatic amine;[C] an imidazole compound;0.20≤b/a≤0.60; and  (i)0.002≤c/a≤0.014;  (ii)wherein a (mol) denotes the number of epoxy groups in 100 g of the epoxy resin composition, b (mol) denotes the number of active hydrogens contained in the constituent [B], and c (mol) denotes the number of imidazole rings contained in the constituent [C]).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An epoxy resin composition comprising constituents [A], [B], and [C] below, and satisfying conditions (i) and (ii):
[A] a tri- or higher functional epoxy resin;
[B] an aromatic amine;
[C] a reaction product of an imidazole compound and a bisphenol epoxy resin;
0.20≤ b/a≤ 0.60; and (i)   

0.004≤ c/a≤ 0.010; (ii)   

wherein a denotes a number of moles of epoxy groups in 100 g of the epoxy resin composition, b denotes a number of moles of active hydrogens contained in the constituent [B], and c denotes a number of moles of imidazole rings contained in the constituent [C].

2. The epoxy resin composition according to claim 1 , wherein the constituent [A] is contained in an amount of 60 to 100 parts by mass in 100 parts by mass of all epoxy resins.

3. The epoxy resin composition according to claim 1 , wherein [A1] a tetrakis(hydroxyphenyl)ethane epoxy resin is contained as the constituent [A].

4. The epoxy resin composition according to claim 3 , wherein the constituent [A1] is contained in an amount of 10 to 50 parts by mass in 100 parts by mass of all epoxy resins.

5. The epoxy resin composition according to claim 1 , wherein a glass transition temperature of a cured resin produced by subjecting the epoxy resin composition to primary curing at 180° C. for 30 minutes and then to secondary curing at 240° C. for 30 minutes is 220° C. or more.

6. A prepreg comprising the epoxy resin composition according to claim 1 and a reinforced fiber.

7. A fiber-reinforced composite material comprising the prepreg according to claim 6 in cured form.

8. A method for producing a fiber-reinforced composite material, comprising subjecting the prepreg according to claim 6 to primary curing at 130° C. to 200° C. and then to secondary curing at 210° C. to 270° C. for 10 minutes or more.

9. An epoxy resin composition comprising constituents [A], [B], and [C] below, and satisfying conditions (iii) and (iv):
[A] a tri- or higher functional epoxy resin;
[B] an aromatic amine;
[C] a reaction product of an imidazole compound and a bisphenol epoxy resin, wherein the reaction product is an adduct of bisphenol A diglycidyl ether and imidazole;
0.20≤ b/a≤ 0.60; and (iii)   

0.002≤ c/a≤ 0.010; (iv)   

wherein a denotes a number of moles of epoxy groups in 100 g of the epoxy resin composition, b denotes a number of moles of active hydrogens contained in the constituent [B], and c denotes a number of moles of imidazole rings contained in the constituent [C].

10. A prepreg comprising the epoxy resin composition according to claim 9 and a reinforced fiber.

Assignees

• Toray Industries

Inventors

• Sano Kentaro
• Kuroda Taiki
• Mori Ayumi
• Kamae Toshiya

Classifications

• C08J5/249

  characterised by the additives used in the prepolymer mixture · CPC title

• C08J5/243

  using carbon fibres · CPC title

• C08G59/3227 Primary

  Compounds containing acyclic nitrogen atoms · CPC title

• C08J5/04

  Reinforcing macromolecular compounds with loose or coherent fibrous material · CPC title

• C08G59/5033

  aromatic · CPC title