Toughening Modification of Unsaturated Polyester Resin Using HDI Trimer

HDI trimer was firstly used to improve the mechanical properties of hydroxylterminated unsaturated polyester (UP). Mechanical properties measurements performed on the cured materials demonstrate a distinct improvement in intensity and toughness in the presence of HDI trimer and shows the change trends of increase and then decrease. The morphological analysis of the fracture surfaces shows that the micro-phase separated structures appear in modified UPR systems and changed from dendritric, dimple and to cystiform structures with the increase of HDI trimer content. The presence of the cystiform structures made the modified UPR systems present the best properties.