Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure include a thermoset cross-linked network and a method of producing the thermoset cross-linked network from a reaction product of a curable epoxy system in a liquid phase and cross-linked reactive polymer microparticles in a solid phase. For the various embodiments, the cross-linked reactive polymer microparticles have a cross-link density and reactive groups that covalently react with the curable epoxy system to provide the thermoset cross-linked network in a single contiguous phase having a topological heterogeneity.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure include a composition of cross-linked reactive polymer microparticles and a method of producing cross-linked reactive polymer microparticles that includes reacting an epoxy resin with an amine curing agent in a dispersing media at a temperature of 50° C. to 120° C. for a reaction time of no greater than 17 hours so that the cross-linked reactive polymer microparticles have no greater than 0.001 weight percent of the dispersing media bound to the cross-linked reactive polymer microparticles; and phase separating the cross-linked reactive polymer microparticles and the dispersing media.