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Francesco Patti
Professor Cuevas
CHM-1020
04 November 2020

Epoxy Resins
Known as epoxy or porcelain, epoxy resin is a polymer that is characterized by its hardness and
gloss, with which different industrial jobs can be carried out, mainly floor covering and as an
adhesive for manufacturing automobiles. It is a material that has several characteristics that the
industrial sector takes advantage of, we can mention, for example, its resistance to high
temperatures. Due to its importance, in this article, we are going to know all the details about this
resin. Today there are many types of epoxy resins and many of them are produced with
petroleum derivatives, although a few are obtained from plant sources.
Thanks to their thermal and electrical insulation properties, they are used to manufacture
electrical and electronic devices and systems, as well as paints, adhesives, coatings, composite
materials (such as fiberglass and carbon fiber), and tools for industry. In biology, they are used to
make biological sample preparations that are used in electron microscopy.
Epoxy resins are characterized by the epoxy group (oxirane rings), which make these resins
cross-linkable. The most commonly used resins are diglyceryl ethers of bisphenol A (DGEBA).
These are prepared by reacting epichlorohydrin with bisphenol A in the presence of an alkaline
catalyst. By controlling operating conditions and varying the ratio of epichlorohydrin to
bisphenol A, products of different molecular weights can be manufactured. Solids with very high
melting points range from low viscosity liquids to solid resins that melt up to 175 ° C. Generally,
the higher the melting point, the less curing agent is needed. The cured properties of all these
resins are similar, but the hardness increases as the melting point increases. Although most
DGEBA epoxy resins are light amber, clear and colorless epoxy resins are available for optical
inlays. The electronics industry requires epoxy resins with minimal ionic contamination,
especially sodium and chlorine. Most manufacturers supply DGEBA epoxy resins with less than
100 ppm of ionic contaminants and some with less than 1 ppm of chlorine and sodium.

History of epoxy resins 

The first commercial production attempts took place in 1927 in the United States. The
condensation of epoxides and amines was described and patented by Paul Schlack of Germany in
1934.1 The merit of the first synthesis of a resin-based on bisphenol-a is shared in 1936 by the
Swiss Pierre Castan (patented in 1938) and the American S.O. Greenlee (patented in 1948).
Castan's work was licensed by the Swiss chemical company Ciba, Ltd., which quickly became
one of the top three producers of epoxy resins in the world, marketing them under the name
Araldite. Ciba's epoxy business was spun off and then sold in the late 1990s and is now an
Advanced Materials business unit of Huntsman Corporation of the United States. Greenlee,
working for the small American company Devoe-Reynolds, patented a resin derived from
bisphenol-A and epichlorohydrin.2 Devoe-Reynolds, which was active in the early days of the
epoxy resin industry, was sold to Shell Chemical (now Momentive Specialty Chemicals,
formerly Hexion, Resolution Polymers, and others).
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Applications 
 Finishes and paints
First, we will highlight its use as a coating, as it can protect against corrosion and improve the
durability of the paint layers. Epoxy resins are also often used as primer layers, as they allow
better adhesion in the new layers of paint and also improve the strength of the entire coating. It is
also used as a coating for wood, to improve its appearance and durability. They are used on
floors, not only to improve resistance but also to cause an attractive shine and improve the
aesthetics of the space. Due to these last factors, it is also often used as a coating in the
automotive industry.
 Adhesives
The second most important application of those resins is structural adhesives. As we mentioned
in the properties, its good adhesiveness allows the manufacture of high performance and
hardness products that are used in highly demanding industrial areas, such as the manufacture of
cars, airplanes, or even ships. Besides, they allow a great variety of products that vary in their
flexibility or rigidity properties, as well as in their transparency. Likewise, epoxy resins stand out
for their great resistance to heat and traction; if one of these adhesives is cured with heat, it can
have excellent shielding against chemicals and also a very high tensile strength.
 Electrical and electronic devices
The insulating capacity of epoxy resins makes them a good option to coat different generators,
transformers, or even motors, to protect them against different conditions. As for the electronic
field, it is often used to encapsulate transistors or integrated circuits, to protect them against
circumstances such as dust and humidity. In the same way, they are often used to glue electronic
elements, so they combine their adhesive property with their electrical insulating capacity in the
same application.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epoxy
https://epoxyflooringtech.com/history-of-epoxy-resin/