Molecular Level Understanding of Amine Structural Variations on Diaminodiphenyl Sulfone to Thermomechanical Characteristics in Bifunctional Epoxy Resin: Molecular Dynamics Simulation Approach

Abstract

Epoxy-based composite materials, widely used in various industries such as coatings, adhesives, aerospace, electronics, and biomedical engineering, remain a topic of global interest due to their varying characteristics based on the base resin and curing agents used. This paper employs molecular dynamics simulation to examine the thermal and mechanical properties, as well as molecular behaviors, of epoxy systems cured with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol F as the base resin and aromatic amine curing agents, specifically the meta structure of 3,3 '-diaminodiphenyl sulfone (3,3 '-DDS) and the para structure of 4,4 '-diaminodiphenyl sulfone (4,4 '-DDS). The 3,3 '-DDS system demonstrated a greater density and Young's modulus than the 4,4 '-DDS system. This tendency was analyzed based on differences in molecular fractional free volume and cohesive energy density (CED). The 4,4 '-DDS system exhibits a higher glass transition temperature (Tg) compared to the 3,3 '-DDS system, with values of 406.36 K and 431.22 K, respectively. To understand this behavior, we examined atomic-scale displacements at Tg through mean squared displacement analysis, which revealed that the onset of molecular motion occurs at a lower temperature in the 3,3 '-DDS system. Molecular-level study reveals how the structural features of each curing agent appear in thermal and mechanical properties, offering important insights for epoxy system development.