3.2.3. Thermogravimetric Analyses (TGA)

Figure 12 shows the thermogravimetric curves of the rubber functionalized and cured epoxy mixtures Ep-R-160, Ep-R-160-DBA, Ep-R-160-T, and Ep-R-160-M in air and nitrogen flow.

**Figure 12.** Thermogravimetric curves of the rubber functionalized and cured mixtures Ep-R-160, Ep-R-160-DBA, Ep-R-160-T, and Ep-R-160-M in air and nitrogen flow.

The TGA curves shown in Figure 12, compared with those of Figure 9, clearly evidence that the addition of the hardener agent MHHPA determines an increase in the initial degradation temperature (Td5%) of the samples, as expected for samples after the curing process. For example, for the sample Ep-R-160 (functionalized at a higher temperature), the initial degradation temperature (Td5%) after the curing cycle is about 253 ◦C in airflow and about 248 ◦C in nitrogen flow as shown in Table 4. The stability in the thermal degradation is also retained with the dispersion of the self-healing fillers in the formulation.

**Table 4.** Data of TGA analyses performed in air and nitrogen flow for the sample EP-R-160 and the same sample containing the healing fillers DBA, T, and M.


\*Td5%: temperature corresponding to a weight loss of 5 wt%.
