3.2. Synthesis

DGEBA and PCL were poured into a 50 mL round bottom flask. The mixtures were heated at 100 °C and mechanically stirred at 50 rpm for 1 h, to obtain a homogeneous mixture. When the solution was homogeneous the curing agents were added, and the temperature and stirring were maintained for additional 30 min. Table 3 summarizes the composition of the prepared samples.

Composition of the prepared samples.

Films of the DGEBA/PCL mixtures were made by compression molding (Specac {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"M27544","term_id":"184829","term_text":"M27544"}}M27544, Orpington England) with a film maker and a heating device (Specac 4000 Series High Stability Temperature Controller). A total of 0.2–0.3 g of the mixture was heated at 100 °C without pressure for 5 min, and afterwards a pressure of 5 tons was applied for 5 min, while maintaining the temperature. Using this procedure, films of a thickness of 500 μm were obtained. To perform the curing process, these films were placed in an oven (Selecta Dryterm 2000787, Barcelona, Spain) at 100 °C for 16 h.

The material was reprocessed by compression molding. The grinded material was pressed inside a mold at 150 bars at 125 °C, for 1 h.