The epoxy compositions with ionic liquids (ILs) differing in the alkyl chain length of imidazolium cation (butyl or decyl), anion type [N(CN) 2 ¯, BF 4 ¯, Cl ¯], as well as ILs concentration (1, 3, and 9 phr) have been prepared, and their curing characteristics at ambient and elevated temperatures have been investigated. Rheometric, differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared measurements revealed substantial differences in the curing characteristics dependent mainly on the IL anion type and its concentration. TGA results showed that thermal decomposition of IL influenced the onset temperature of epoxy resins cross-linking reactions during heat treatment. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis measurements showed that the type of IL anion had an effect on T g and tan δ values as well. For materials cross-linked with ILs containing dicyanamide anion the highest T g (ca. 170 °C) and the lowest tan δ (0.26) values have been found. On the basis of the obtained results and literature data the mechanism of epoxy resin cross-linking in the presence of imidazolium ionic liquids has been proposed.

A series of poly(ethylene terephthalate-co-1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol terephthalate)-blockpoly(tetramethylene oxide) (PETG-block-PTMO) copolymers were synthesized by means of a polycondensation process and characterized using 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), that confirm the successful synthesis of the material. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), small -and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXS and WAXS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used in order to evaluate the influence of the block copolymers' composition and microstructure on the phase transition temperatures, thermal properties, as well as the thermooxidative and thermal stability of the PETG-block-PTMO copolymers, respectively. The mechanical properties were investigated by tensile testing and dynamic mechanical measurements (DMTA). We found that along with an increase in PTMO weight fraction, both number-average molecular weights and intrinsic visocisities increase. Moreover, an increase in the flexible segments content in PETG-block-PTMO resulted in shifting the values of glass transition temperatures toward lower ones, which was confirmed by DSC and DMTA analyses, thus affirming the miscibility of both phases. At the same time, along with an increase of PTMO flexible segments amount in the PETG-block-PTMO copolymers, the values of Young's modulus, tensile strength at yield and weight losses in lower temperatures range, i.e. 280-390 C, decrease.