Cure kinetics modeling of cyanate-ester resin system

► The cyanate-ester resin was extracted from prepreg. ► Complex multi-step curing of resin was modeled by nth order cure kinetics. ► The cure evolution was divided in-to four different cure zones. ► Order of reaction of one of the zone was of zero order. An analysis of isothermal cure kinetics of cyanate-ester resin extracted from quartz/cyanate-ester prepreg was performed based on polymer cure kinetics. The DSC scans revealed the presence of multi-step complex reactions occurring during cure. Different cure zones were modeled independently and then combined together to yield cure kinetics for full cure. In one of the zone, reaction order was found to be of zero order. Different cure zones were identified by temperature dependent critical onset and end conversions. The developed model was used to predict isothermal and dynamic curing and was found to be in good agreement with experimental results. The model expression of the isothermal cure kinetics proposed in this study will be utilized in simulation of more complex curing processes involving isothermal dwells and non-isothermal ramps.