The investigation on the curing process of polysulfide sealant by in situ dielectric analysis

In this work, in situ dielectric analysis (DEA) was employed for the first time to the best of our knowledge, to monitor the curing process of polysulfide (PSF) sealant using manganese dioxide (MnO2) as the curing agent, where the gel point and ending point were determined. The obtained results were verified by rheological tests of dynamic mechanical analysis and tensile strength tests. It showed a significant difference between this curing process and those of usual thermosetting materials. The influences of the pH value of the samples and curing temperature were investigated and discussed in detail. Also, activation energies of the curing reaction of the samples with different pH values were calculated. The results proved DEA as a reliable and useful method for in situ monitoring PSF–MnO2 curing process. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012