HYCAT ™ AO

Dimension Technology Chemical Systems, Inc. (DTCS), is now offering Hycat ™ AO, a new experimental proprietary accelerator with latent catalyst properties. Hycat ™ AO is a very low VOC liquid catalyst that promotes the reaction of bisphenol A diglycidyl ether type epoxides with phthalic acid or succinic acid based anhydrides such as methyl tetrahydrophthalic anhydride, methyl hexahydrophthalic anhydride (MHHPA) and dodecenyl succinic anhydride. Other anhydride systems are expected to work as well.

• ^{Hycat ™ AO physical properties:}

  • ^{Appearance             Clear, colorless, liquid}

  • ^{Density                   1.08 at 20 °C}

  • ^{Boiling point            Decomposes at about 240 °C at 10 torr}

  • ^{Pour point                Less than -25 °C when super cooled}

  • ^{Acid Content            Less than 1 meq/g}

• ^{Hycat ™ AO catalyst performance:}

    ^Formulation:

• ^{Epon 828            100 parts}

• ^{MHHPA               80 parts}

• ^{Hycat ™ AO        0.5 wt. %}

    ^{Pot life, room temperature (~ 22 °C), about 48 hours}

    ^{Pot life, 80 °C, mobile up to 3 to 3.5 hours}

    ^{Cure time to hard, non-tacky, clear, colorless solid:}

• ^{at 130 °C         about 6 to 9 minutes}

• ^{at 150 °C         about 2 to 3 minutes}

^Formulation:

• ^{Epon 828             100 parts}

• ^{MHHPA                 80 parts}

• ^{Hycat ™ AO          0.25 wt. %}

    ^{Pot life, room temperature (~ 22 °C), about 100 hours}

    ^{Pot life, 80 °C, mobile up to 4 to 5 hours}

    ^{Cure time to hard, non-tacky, clear, colorless solid:}

• ^{at 130 °C         about 16 minutes}

• ^{at 150 °C         about 8 minutes}

USE OF HYCAT ™ AO

Work done by Dr. Sergey Geidur at the Saint Petersburg State Technological Institute in Russia also showed the effectiveness of using Hycat™ AO, in comparison to other catalysts systems, to increase the brightness of LEDs.  In Dr. Geidur’s work, EPON 828 and an anhydride hardener was cured at 150 ^OC.  For the most part, a stoichiometric ratio of the epoxy to the hardener was generally used.  The results of Dr. Sergey’s work are shown below [Note: all hardeners had a Hazen color of less than 50].

Hardeners:

·        MTHPA

·        HHPA

·        EPICURE 1761 MTHPA

·        MHHPA

Catalysts Used:

·        Hycat™ AO

·        Imidazole

·        N,N-Dimethylbenzylamine (DMBA)

·        Tetrabutylammonium Bromide (TBAB)

COMPARISON OF COLOR FORMATION WITH DIFFERENT CATALYSTS SYSTEMS

Reaction of EPON 828 with different hardeners at 150 ^O C

CATALYSTS

HARDENER

IMIDAZOLE

DMBA

TBAB

HYCAT™ AO

MTHPA (1)

Yellow

Brown

Yellow

Almost Colorless

HHPA (2)

Yellow

Brown

Light Yellow

Colorless

HHPA (3)

Yellow

Brown

Light Yellow

Colorless

EPICURE 1761 (4)

Yellow

Brown

Yellow

Almost Colorless

MTHPA (2)

Light Yellow

Brown

Light Yellow

Colorless

MHHPA/SW (2)

Yellow

Brown

Yellow

Colorless

MHHPA (3)

Yellow

Brown

Yellow

Almost Colorless

1.  Sterlytamaksky Petrochemical Factor, Russia

2.  Lonza Group, Italy

3.  Milliken Chemical, USA

4.  Resolution Performance Products, Germany

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Copyright © 2002 Dimension Technology Chemical Systems, Inc.