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Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin
By:John Messinger
Date: 8/11/2014, 7:18 pm
In Response To: Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin (Robert N Pruden)

Thanks, John, as you described it is what I was thinking. I was hoping the water wouldn't interfere in the hardening process but it looks like it will. The main idea is to break up the resin into small globules and then get them to react out to form a nice manageable granular pump-able solid. I can break it up with methanol quite nicely, it will have to be neat instead of 50% aqueous solution. The di-amine won't be a problem as it isn't my nickle to spend.

I have not tried any of my theorizing, I have a Ph.D. in organic chemistry but using that knowledge is 20 years in the past. Having said that, it is the -OH group and hydrogen bonding that is the bugaboo in SN2 reactions and water and alcohol solvents. -OH is a good nucleophile and will open up the epoxide all by itself. This will render the amine groups of EDA just a dilute spectator in the whole mess.

Now consider acetone with the EDA, this will work, however I cannot speak to the granular nature of the resulting secondary amine bisphenol A alcohol product that results from reaction of an epoxide with an amine. It may be a greasy, sticky slime that bungs up walls of mixing flasks and mechanical pumping devices.

Here are some givens: 1.) water, pound for pound, gallon for gallon is by far your cheapest, most accessible solvent, 2.) there are hundreds of surfactants out there ranging from inexpensive ionics such as sodium lauryl sulfate, and carboxylate soaps, to expensive non-ionics such as the tweens and spans. The right one (and probably several) will certainly emulsify the large epoxy monomer into water and eventually the water will open the epoxides to form a water soluble double diol. IMHO vastly less expensive, much less of a mess and probably more "pumpable".

Finally, if the stupid show had any validity at all he would not have called himself "Heisenburg" a physical chemist, but rather Woodward, Grignard or Haber. And NO, I cannot make crystal meth.

Messages In This Thread

Epoxy: Cleaning up resin *PIC*
Robert N Pruden -- 8/11/2014, 1:21 pm
Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin
John Messinger -- 8/11/2014, 2:56 pm
Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin
Robert N Pruden -- 8/11/2014, 3:34 pm
Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin
John Messinger -- 8/11/2014, 7:18 pm
Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin
Robert N Pruden -- 8/11/2014, 3:35 pm
Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin *PIC*
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 8/11/2014, 6:14 pm
Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin
Jay Babina -- 8/12/2014, 7:56 am
Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin
Thomas Duncan -- 8/12/2014, 10:00 am
Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin
JohnAbercrombie -- 8/12/2014, 12:11 pm
Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin
Robert Horstmann -- 8/13/2014, 9:14 am
Re: Epoxy: Cleaning up resin
Robert N Pruden -- 8/14/2014, 3:11 pm