Biphenyl epoxy/phenol-aralkyl resins with a high silica
content
were cured by synthesizing and using a novel organophosphine accelerator,
triphenylphosphine-1,4-benzoquinone (TPP-BQ), which exhibits thermal
latency. Thermal properties and curing characteristics of epoxy molding
compounds (EMCs) that were accelerated by TPP-BQ and triphenylphosphine
(TPP) were also studied using a differential scanning calorimeter
(DSC). Although an analysis of thermal characteristics revealed that
TPP-BQ is inactive at low temperatures, at high temperatures, TPP-BQ
increases the curing rate of EMC in dynamic and isothermal curing
experiments. Additionally, EMCs containing TPP-BQ exhibited excellent
storage stability and swift hardening characteristics, owing to the
effect of the thermal latency of the accelerator on the molding behavior
of the EMCs. Before gelation, EMC containing TPP-BQ had a lower melting
viscosity than that of EMC containing TPP, explaining why the former
flowed longer in the spiral flow test than the latter.