NOVEL LOW TEMPERATURE ANHYDRIDE EPOXY CURED SYSTEMS

A curing agent composition comprising anhydride and approximately equimolar amount of tertiary amine or imidazole and carboxylic acid, the amine being 1-piperidinylethanol (N-hydroxyethyl-piperidine, NHEP) represented by the structure below or an imidazole represented by the structure below:where R1=H, a C1-C20 straight chain or branched alkyl, or a monocyclic aryl; R2=a C1-C20 straight chain or branched alkyl, or a monocyclic aryl. The carboxylic acid is represented by RCOOH; R=a C1-C20 straight chain or branched alkyl, or a monocyclic aryl. The composition comprises a lower ratio of epoxy resin to anhydride (1:0.4-0.6) than typically used (1:0.8-1.1). In addition, it uses a higher loading of the hindered latent tertiary amine or the imidazole in combination with the carboxylic acid (wt % ratio of combined amine and carboxylic acid to anhydride ˜10%). With this composition a full cure can be achieved in less than 2 hr at a significantly lower temperature (˜100° C.).