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This study describes the combination of multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares with a kinetic modeling strategy for obtaining the kinetic rate constants of a curing reaction of epoxy resins. The reaction between phenyl glycidyl ether and aniline is monitored by near-infrared spectroscopy under isothermal conditions for several initial molar ratios of the reagents. The data for all experiments, arranged in a column-wise augmented data matrix, are analyzed using multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares. The concentration profiles recovered are fitted to a chemical model proposed for the reaction. The selection of the kinetic model is assisted by the information contained in the recovered concentration profiles. The nonlinear fitting provides the kinetic rate constants. The optimized rate constants are in agreement with values reported in the literature.

The present study investigates the relationship between the changes in complex viscosity and near-infrared spectra. Principal component regression analysis is applied to a near-infrared data set obtained from the in situ monitoring of the curing of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A with the diamine 4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane. The values of complex viscosity obtained by dynamic mechanical analysis during the cure process were used as a reference. The near-infrared spectra recorded throughout the reaction, unlike the univariate data analysis at some wavelengths of the spectra, contain a sufficient amount of information to estimate the complex viscosity. The relationship found was high and the results demonstrate the quality of the fitted model. Also, a simple user-friendly procedure for applying the model, focused on the user, is shown.

When applied to near-infrared (NIR) data, multivariate curve resolution methods, in particular alternating least squares (ALS), make it possible to calculate the concentration profiles and the spectra of all species involved in the reaction of curing epoxy resins. In this paper, the model reaction between phenyl glicidyl ether and aniline (2:1) was studied at 95 degrees C. A NIR spectrum was recorded every five minutes throughout the eight-hour reaction process. The data display rank deficiency. This problem was overcome by supplying additional information to the system in the form of known spectra of some reactants. The recovered spectra and concentration profiles satisfactorily reproduced the experimental data. In this way, 99.99% of the variance associated with the experimental matrix was reproduced. A value of 0.87% was obtained for lack of fit while the similarity coefficient r between the spectra recovered and the spectra corresponding to the three pure species involved in the reaction were PGE (r = 0.994), aniline (r = 0.994), and tertiary amine (r = 0.999). The maximum and minimum limits associated with the ALS solutions were calculated, which made it possible to limit to a considerable extent the ambiguity that is characteristic of these curve resolution methods.