Non-isothermal curing kinetics of biocomposite from poly(furfuryl alcohol) and graphene oxide or reduced graphene oxide with different contents of oxygen-groups by DSC

Abstract The non-isothermal curing kinetics of furfuryl alcohol (FA) with p-toluenesulfonic acid (p-TSA-2 wt%), two graphene oxides with different content of oxygen and a high thermally reduced graphene oxide at different concentrations (2, 4, 6 wt%) were studied by DSC using four heating rates (5, 7.5, 10 and 15 K min-1). The graphene particles were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, 13C solid-state NMR, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The formulations highlighted the importance of the amount of graphene as well as the effect of the oxygen groups on the curing process. The results showed that graphene had a catalytic effect on the polymerization reaction of FA depending on the oxidation degree. FA curing presented two well-defined stages: polycondensation at relatively low temperature, and crosslinking at high temperature. The kinetic parameters of Kamal and Kamal-Chern diffusion models were applied successfully for working with experimental data. The double fitting method was used to determine the kinetic parameters and to establish the kinetics equation.