Investigation of Encapsulation of 1-Methylimidazole Latent Curing Agent Using Solid Epoxy Resin

Encapsulation of 1-methylimidazole (1-MI) was investigated to prepare the latent 1-MI curing agent by using solid epoxy resin as the wall materials. The morphology of 1-MI/solid epoxy microcapsules was investigated by SEM. The thermal behavior of the prepared microcapsule was investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). According to the TGA and DSC results, the weight loss of 1-MI/solid epoxy microcapsules although not showing the actual value of the encapsulated 1-MI, but it can be thought-out as the weight of 1-MI that participates in the reaction with the matrix liquid epoxy resin.