A sheet molding compound which is a thickened material of an epoxy resin composition, including a component (A), a component (B), and a component (C), in which the component (A) is an epoxy resin staying at a liquid state at 25° C., the component (B) is an acid anhydride, the component (C) is an epoxy resin curing agent, and in the thickened material, at least some of epoxy groups of the component (A) and at least some of carboxy groups derived from the component (B) form ester.

Epoxy curing agents are disclosed having an epoxy curing agent comprising at least one room temperature ionic liquid salt, the room temperature ionic liquid salt being a reaction product of (a) at least one polyalkylene polyamine compound represented by formula (I):

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wherein x, y, and z are integers of 2 and 3, m and n and integers of 1-3; and (b) an organic acid having pKa (the negative of the logarithm of the acid dissociation constant) less than 6. The liquid salt is a stable liquid at a temperature greater than 15° C. Curable epoxy-based compositions including the curing agent and articles formed by the curable epoxy-based compositions are also disclosed.

A solid resin molding material according to the present invention includes a thermosetting resin (A), a curing agent (B), a carboxylic acid-based dispersant (C), and magnetic particles (D).

There is provided a thermosetting powder coating material capable of forming a cured product having excellent workability at coating and high plasticity as well as heat resistance, resulting in heat resistance and crack resistance at bending processing. (A) denotes a bisphenol type epoxy resin having epoxy equivalent weight of 600 to 800 g/eq (not including 800 g/eq), (B) a rubber-modified epoxy resin, (C) a bisphenol type phenyl resin curing agent (D) a compound for activating (C), (D1) an imidazole compound and (D2) an amine-epoxy adduct type compound. The thermosetting powder coating material is composed of a finely pulverized composition. The composition comprises (A), (C) and (D) but does not comprise (B). (D) comprises (D1) and (D2), and a weight ratio of (D2) with respect to (D1) is 1.0 or more and 3.7 or less when (D1) is 1.

A composite molded article in which thermoplastic resin expanded beads are bonded via a thermosetting resin binder, wherein the composite molded article has a density of 0.05 to 0.5 g/cm.sup.3, and when heated at 100° C. for 20 minutes, the composite molded article has a volume expansion rate of 15 to 200%.

One-component electromagnetic curable novel toughened epoxy-hybrid structural adhesives, generally including: (a) a bisphenol A liquid epoxy resin, (b) a bisphenol F liquid epoxy resin, (c) a bisphenol A solid epoxy resin, (d) a novel toughening agent, (e) one or more mineral fillers, and (f) a curing agent. The structural adhesives of the present invention can be cured within seconds and are useful for a plurality of applications, including bonding OEM closure panel components, such as doors, hoods, fenders, etcetera.

A polyhydric phenol resin is provided. The polyhydric phenol resin comprises a polyhydric phenol resin component and a first component. When the polyhydric phenol resin is characterized in a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the first component is eluted at a retention time ranging from 27.1 minutes to 28.0 minutes, and based on the total area of the chromatographic peaks of the polyhydric phenol resin, the area percentage of the chromatographic peak of the first component at the corresponding retention time in the spectrum ranges from 1.0% to 20%.

A conductive paste for an electrolytic capacitor used for connecting a cathode part and a cathode lead terminal of the electrolytic capacitor. The conductive paste includes a thermosetting resin, and conductive particles, and the conductive particles include flaky metal particles and acicular conductive particles. The content of the conductive particles in the conductive paste is, for example, 50 mass % or more and 70 mass % or less, and the mass ratio of the flaky metal particles to the total of the flaky metal particles and the acicular conductive particles is, for example, 60% or more and 80% or less.

Provided is an encapsulating resin composition that is used for collectively encapsulating a circuit board (10) and at least a part of a connector portion (20), in which the encapsulating resin composition contains a curing accelerator, the connector portion (20) includes a terminal (21) that electrically connects the circuit board (10) with the external device, and a housing (22) that is disposed on an outer periphery of the terminal (21) and is encapsulated by the encapsulating resin composition, the housing (22) contains a thermoplastic resin, and in a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curve of the encapsulating resin composition obtained in a case where a temperature is increased from 30° C. to 200° C. under conditions of a temperature increase rate of 10° C./min using a DSC meter, a maximum heat release peak temperature is equal to or higher than 100° C. and equal to or lower than 163° C., and a half-value width of a maximum heat release peak is equal to or higher than 5° C. and equal to or lower than 25° C.

Provided are a stereoisomer of an epoxy compound that when contained in a curable composition, can improve the heat resistance and dielectric properties of the cured product of the curable composition, a curable composition containing the stereoisomer, and a cured product of the curable composition. A stereoisomer of an epoxy compound represented by Formula (1) below, the stereoisomer being represented by Formula (2), and a curable composition containing the stereoisomer are used:

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in which in Formula (1), R.sup.1 to R.sup.18 are each independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, an alkyl group, and an alkoxy group; and

##STR00002##

in which in Formula (2), R.sup.1 to R.sup.18 are each the same as in Formula (1).