Using Ozawa method to study the curing kinetics of electrically conductive adhesives

In this paper, we fabricated electrically conductive adhesives using vinyl ester resin and micro silver flakes, and then cured the adhesives by heat without any catalysts or initiators. The curing temperature was above 200 A degrees C, and the curing time about 30 min. Under these heat curing conditions, the double bonds in the adhesives reached a high conversion (alpha) around 98.88 % calculated from the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. The curing kinetics of heat curing products was studied using Ozawa method and deduced by assuming a constant activation energy (E). The curing kinetic equation was obtained as d alpha/dt = e(17.70)(1 - alpha)(1.19) alpha (0.41)e((-94.32)/RT)) with E = 94.32 kJ mol(-1). The heat curing followed the shrinking core model from the resin-particle system. The data calculated from the kinetic equation agreed well with the experimental data, showing that the Ozawa method could evaluate the curing kinetics effectively. Furthermore, a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the curing kinetics of heat curing electrically conductive adhesives has been achieved with this Ozawa method.