Epoxide Resin

By: Addyasa Mahapatra and Aishwarya P. Hegde

Introduction
• Epoxide Resin is a flexible and usually thermosetting resin
• It is made by copolymerization of an epoxide with another compound
having two hydroxyl groups and used chiefly in coatings and adhesives
• Its also called as epoxy
•  Epoxy adhesives consist of a resin with epoxide rings at the ends of
its molecules and a curing agent containing amines or anhydrides.
• When mixed, these react to yield, after curing, a complex network
with ether groups linking the monomers.
• Stable, tough, and resistant to corrosive chemicals, epoxies are
excellent adhesives and useful surface coatings.
Uses of Epoxy
1. General Purpose Adhesives
• Fibreglass Repairs
• Carpentry and Woodwork :
- In a pinch, epoxy can substitute for wood glue when building furniture
or cabinets.
- It sets faster, making it useful for urgent situations. It can also be used
as a secondary adhesive to reinforce the wood glue.
- Used to laminate plywood with fiberglass. This increases the strength
and durability of the construction.
- Used for coating bar tops and other frequently wet wooden surface
• Wood And Metal Fills :
- Epoxy adhesives can be used to repair wood rot or rust.
- The damaged part of the wood is filled in and allowed to dry
• Reinforce Bolts:
- Used to reinforce fasteners.
- A common example is bolting heavy vibrating machinery to a concrete
floor.
- Epoxy protects the bolt from corrosion, strengthens the joint, and
delays stress-induced cracking.
2. As the binder in cement and mortars
3. Rigid foams
4. Non-skid coatings
5. Solidifying sandy surfaces in oil drilling
• 6. Industrial coatings :
- Used to produce molds, master models, laminates, castings, fixtures,
and other industrial production aids.
- This "plastic tooling" replaces metal, wood and other traditional
materials, and generally improves the efficiency and either lowers the
overall cost or shortens the lead-time for many industrial processes.
- Usually produce stronger and more temperature-resistant thermoset
polymer matrix composite parts.
Advantages
• Good resilience against environmental and media influences
• Epoxies can be used at higher temperatures
• Epoxy adhesives feature high glass transition temperatures
• Cured epoxy adhesives usually have dry, non-tacky surfaces, making them suitable also as
one-sided protective coatings
• Some epoxies exhibit very good optical properties and diffraction indexes, making them
useful for applications in precision optics, lens bonding and information technology
• The epoxide ring created in the cross-linking reaction significantly reduces shrinkage
• Epoxy adhesives have an extremely low ionic content and low alkaline and halogen content,
down to less than 10 ppm
• Epoxy adhesives offer a wide range of different material characteristics: from flexible and soft
with high elongation at break to hard and scratch-resistant with extremely high bond strength
Disadvantages
• Epoxies are solvent-based and can cause some serious health issues.
• Epoxies are limited to the type of surface it can coat. Wood, for example, is not compatible with
epoxy because wood is far more flexible than epoxies, which can lead to the epoxy cracking due
to the expansion and contraction of the wood.
• When coating on steel for applications like internal tank linings, epoxies do not protect against
reverse impacts.
• They are highly flammable.
• Must use proper ventilation at all times.
• They have limited repairable because they do not ‘autobond’ to previous coats.
• Epoxies do not perform well in colder temperatures. Expensive heating equipment would need to
be used to raise the temperature for the coating. The other situation would be in a refrigeration
environment (foods) in which they would need to raise the temperature in order for the coating to
be applied and cure. This would be increased downtime for the facility owner.
Epoxy has been widely adapted for many uses beyond fiber reinforced
polymer composites. Today, epoxy adhesives are sold in local hardware
stores, and epoxy resin is used as the binder in countertops or coatings
for floors. The myriad of uses for epoxy continues to expand, and
variates of epoxies are constantly being developed to fit the industries
and products they are used in