An epoxide resin for the manufacture of a fibre-reinforced composite material having fire retardant properties and/or for use as an adhesive or hot-melt adhesive having fire retardant properties, the epoxide resin being halogen-free and phenolic resin-free, the epoxide resin having: A. a mixture of (i) at least one first non-halogenated multifunctional epoxide-containing resin which has an epoxide functionality of greater than 2 and (ii) at least one second non-halogenated multifunctional epoxide-containing resin which has an epoxide functionality of less than or equal to 2; B. at least one catalyst for curing the mixture of epoxide-containing resins to form a cured epoxy resin; and C. a mixture of first, second and third fire retardant additives for reacting together to form an intumescent char when the cured epoxy resin is exposed to a fire, wherein (i) the first fire retardant additive comprises a blowing agent for generating a non-combustible gas, (ii) the second fire retardant additive comprises an acid donor for decomposing to form a phosphoric acid when the cured epoxy resin is exposed to a fire, and (iii) the third fire retardant additive comprises at least one or both of (a) a ceramic or glass material and (b) a ceramic or glass material precursor to form a ceramic or glass material when the cured epoxy resin is exposed to a fire.

An epoxide resin for the manufacture of a fibre-reinforced composite material having fire retardant properties and/or for use as an adhesive or hot-melt adhesive having fire retardant properties, the epoxide resin being halogen-free and phenolic resin-free, the epoxide resin having: A. a mixture of (i) at least one first non-halogenated multifunctional epoxide-containing resin which has an epoxide functionality of greater than 2 and (ii) at least one second non-halogenated multifunctional epoxide-containing resin which has an epoxide functionality of less than or equal to 2; B. at least one catalyst for curing the mixture of epoxide-containing resins to form a cured epoxy resin; and C. a mixture of first, second and third fire retardant additives for reacting together to form an intumescent char when the cured epoxy resin is exposed to a fire, wherein (i) the first fire retardant additive comprises a blowing agent for generating a non-combustible gas, (ii) the second fire retardant additive comprises an acid donor for decomposing to form a phosphoric acid when the cured epoxy resin is exposed to a fire, and (iii) the third fire retardant additive comprises at least one or both of (a) a ceramic or glass material and (b) a ceramic or glass material precursor to form a ceramic or glass material when the cured epoxy resin is exposed to a fire.

A curable resin composition includes a polyether polyol resin represented by general formula (1) and having an epoxy equivalent of 7,000 to 100,000 g/eq, an epoxy resin having a functionality of 3 or more, and an epoxy resin curing agent. Provided is a curable resin composition that is excellent in heat resistance and also excellent in bending resistance in a well-balanced manner and that is applicable in various fields that require heat resistance and toughness, particularly, electrical and electronic fields.

##STR00001## n is an integer of 1 or more. A.sub.1 and A.sub.2 are each a divalent organic group having an aromatic structure and/or an alicyclic structure. B is a hydrogen atom or a glycidyl group.

A release agent is disclosed for use with an organic binder system used in metal casting. The binder system has a Part I component including an epoxy resin and a free radical initiator and a Part II component having an epoxy resin and an acrylate, where the Part I and Part II components are kept separate until the time of use. The release agent will typically have a molecular weight in the range of 150 to 160, with eight to ten carbon atoms. Two examples of the epoxide are pinene oxide and decene-1 oxide, each of which is effective as an internal release agent when present in the binder for a cold box process in the range of about 0.15% to about 1% of the total weight of the Part I and Part II components.

A photosensitive resin composition contains (A) an ethylenically unsaturated group- and carboxyl group-containing photoreactive resin, (B) an epoxy compound, (C) a polyfunctional epoxy compound, and (D) a photopolymerization initiator.

A photosensitive resin composition contains (A) an ethylenically unsaturated group- and carboxyl group-containing photoreactive resin, (B) an epoxy compound, (C) a polyfunctional epoxy compound, and (D) a photopolymerization initiator.

An epoxy resin composition comprises components [A] to [C]. The component [C] is a component [c1] or [c2] and the rubbery state elastic modulus of a cured article produced by curing the epoxy resin composition in a dynamic viscoelasticity evaluation is 10 MPa or less. Component[A] is a phenyl glycidyl ether substituted by a tert-butyl group, a sec-butyl group, an isopropyl group or a phenyl group. Component [B] is a bifunctional or higher aromatic epoxy resin. Component [C] is a curing agent selected from component [c1], which is an acid anhydride-type curing agent and component [c2], which is an aliphatic amine-type curing agent.

Sealers, construction products, and methods of sealing construction products are provided. In an exemplary embodiment, a sealer includes a first part and a second part. the first part includes an epoxy resin having an epoxy resin molecular weight of about 5,000 Daltons or greater, and also includes an epoxy functional diluent having a diluent molecular weight of about 2,000 Daltons or less. The second part includes a crosslinking agent that is a polyamine. The sealer further includes a particulate with a specific gravity of from about 1 to about 5 grams per cubic centimeter.

A solvent-free electroconductive composition may be used to make electroconductive lines on a surface of a substrate or electroconductive plugs within via holes of a substrate. The solvent-free electroconductive composition is generally made of about 40 to about 95 wt % of a conductive component, about 4 to about 30 wt % of a polymer or oligomer comprising a reactive functional group, up to about 20 wt % of a monomeric diluent comprising a reactive functional group, and up to about 3 wt % of a curing agent. In some instances, the solvent-free electroconductive composition further includes up to about 3 wt % of a lubricating compound. Substrates made using solvent-free electroconductive compositions may be used in printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, solar cells, capacitors, resistors, thermistors, varistors, resonators, transducers, inductors, and multilayer ferrite beads.

An epoxy resin composition is provided which comprises an epoxy resin and a reactive diluent comprising one or more of the monoesters of epoxidized soy oil characterized by a ratio of mols of epoxide groups to mols of ester on the whole of at least 1.35:1. A thermoset plastic composition is also provided which comprises an epoxy resin composition as described, with an amine curing agent.