Abstract
Various aspects of the developed technological foundations of energy-efficient production of epoxy polymers with improved performance properties by the combined use of ultrasonic treatment of liquid polymer media are considered. Two compounds of hot-cured epoxy compositions were investigated: for the preparation of epoxy polymers with shape memory effect and for the preparation of epoxy adhesive compositions. The first of the investigated epoxy compositions were used to form products that, in the hardened state, have a glass transition temperature in the range 50–100 °C. The second investigated epoxy composition was plasticized with a carboxyl rubber. As the controlled parameters of ultrasonic vibrations, frequency in the low-frequency and mid-frequency ranges, intensity and amplitude of elastic vibrations were chosen. As the operational characteristics of the hardened epoxy adhesive composition, the tensile strength, the adhesive pull strength, and adhesive shear strength were measured, and for the hardened heat-shrinkable epoxy polymer, the tensile strength, failure deformation, and glass transition temperature were measured. As the main parameter characterizing energy efficient or energy saving, we selected the total curing time of the thermoplastic polymers by constructing experimental hardening cyclograms. It has been established that the use of combined ultrasonic treatment leads to both improvements of the quality for homogenization of epoxy compositions and reduction in the total time of their hardening by at least twice while increasing the physicomechanical properties of the obtained hardened epoxy polymers and epoxy adhesive compositions.