Virantage® High-Temperature Tougheners for Advanced Composites

Virantage® High-Temperature Tougheners for Advanced Composites imparts enhanced performance to coatings, thermoset composites, epoxy thermosets and sulfone-based tougheners

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PESU Production SiteSulfone PolymersSulfone Monomers

New Production Site for Virantage® PESU

Solvay is relocating its PESU production to its state-of-the-art facility in Panoli, India, creating a dedicated world-scale production unit. This move underscores Solvay’s strategic, long-term commitment to supply and develop products tailored to the unique requirements of the composites industry.

As part of the transition, the Radel® trade name has been replaced with the Virantage® tradename and new grade nomenclature is used to market composite and reactive PESU products used as composite toughening additives. More specifically, Virantage VW-10200 RP replaces Radel A-105P and is produced to the same specification range.

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Testing Shows Comparable Processing and Performance

In order to support customers during the migration, Solvay conducted a series of studies to compare the processing and performance of Radel A-105P and Virantage VW-10200 RP. Test results are reported here and show that there are no functional differences between the two reactive polyethersulfone (r-PESU) materials.

TYPICAL PROPERTIES OF R-PESU
Property	Radel A-105P	Virantage VW-10200 RP	Specification Range
Molecular Weight, Mw (g/mole)
Typical Property Actual Range⁽¹⁾ Reproducibility of Test = +/- 1,500	46,700 45,500 - 49,400	44,200 43,200 - 47,100	43,000 - 50,000
OH-End Groups (micro-eq/g)
Typical Property Actual Range Reproducibility of Test = +/- 5	66 50 - 90	80 65 - 90	50 - max. undefined
Solution Viscosity (cP)
Typical Property⁽²⁾ Actual Range Reproducibility of Test = +/- 100	900 700 -1,000	600 500 - 800	400 - 1,300
Residual Solvent (%)
Typical Property Actual Range Reproducibility of Test = +/- 0.03	0.15 0.10 - 0.20	0.15 0.10 - 0.20	0 - 0.30

⁽¹⁾Actual ranges are based on recent production lots.
⁽²⁾25% in DMAC (dimethylacetamide) at 40°C

Composite Resin Formulations and Properties

The r-PESU/epoxy adducts were then cured with either the DDS or DETDA hardener to produce neat resin castings that were used for further characterization. A series of mechanical tests showed no appreciable difference between systems toughened using Radel A-105P and those toughened using Virantage VW-10200 RP (see Table Comparison of TGMDA Adducts).

The modulus of each neat resin casting was evaluated from ambient temperature up to 250°C using Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA). In addition, DMA testing was conducted on neat resin castings exposed to boiling water for 48 hours and on neat resin castings soaked in methyl ethyl ketone solvent for 14 days. No appreciable difference was observed between the two r-PESU products.

Composite Resin Formulations
Model System	Formulation	Key Observations
High T_g Thermoset Composite	TGMDA epoxy resin, DDS hardener, r-PESU toughener, Catalyst	Both Radel A-105P and Virantage VW-10200 RP r-PESU tougheners were readily adducted at a 12.5 pph (parts per hundred of resin) ratio into TGMDA and BPA epoxies to form a single phase in less than 30 minutes at 140°C. Upon microscopic examination, both TGMDA epoxy adducts showed no evidence of undissolved polymer particles.
Lower Viscosity Hardener for Filament Winding Systems	TGMDA epoxy resin, DETDA hardener, r-PESU toughener, Catalyst
Lower Viscosity Epoxy Resin	BPA epoxy resin, DDS hardeners, r-PESU toughener, Catalyst

BPA = Bis-Phenol A
DDS = Diaminodiphenyl Sulfone
DETDA = Diethyl Toluene Diamine
TGMDA = Tetraglycidyl Methylenedianiline

Actual Properties of r-PESU Tougheners in Composite Resin Formulations
Property	Radel A-105P	Virantage VW-10200 RP	Key Observations⁽¹⁾
Molecular Weight (g/mole) Mn Mw Mw/Mn End Groups (micro-eq/g) OH CI	18,800 50,000 2.67 57 16	15,000 44,200 2.95 63 25	Mw of the Radel A-105P lot is on the high end of the specification range and on the low end of the range for the Virantage VW-10200 RP lot. This difference translates to slightly more end groups for the Virantage lot, while still well within specified limits.
Residual Solvent (%)	0.08	0.26	Residual solvent is higher for the Virantage VW-10200 RP lot, but within the specification range.
Metals (ppm) AI Ca Fe Mg K Na Total Metals	0.1 1.8 0.5 0.2 619 2 624	1.8 6.1 2.7 3.3 43.3 9.8 67	Total metals are higher for the Radel A-105P lot due to the higher level of residual potassium (K).

⁽¹⁾Differences noted between these materials are specific to the actual properties of the production lots used in the study and do not imply that these difference will be typical. Actual properties of individual batches will vary from lot to lot within specification limits.

Neat Resin Coating

Comparison of TGMDA Adducts
Property	Radel A-105P Adduct	Virantage VW-10200 RP Adduct	Key Observations
Melt Viscosity (cP) measured at 75°C	33,800	29,700	Melt viscosity of the Radel A adduct is 14% higher than the Virantage adduct, which correlates with the 14% difference in Mw.
Solution Viscosity (cP) 20% solution in NMP, 25°C	1,050	710	Solution viscosity tends to magnify differences in Mw due to the increased mobility of polymer chains in solution.
Refractive Index	1.6107	1.6108	Refractive Indices are essentially identical, and indicate that both r-PESU adducts formed complete solutions in the TGMDA epoxy systems.