Plant based resins for fibre composites

Abstract

Epoxidized vegetable oils were obtained by epoxidation of plant oils, such as canola, soybean or linseed. These epoxidized oils could be used, after curing with suitable amines, to prepare rubbery materials, which are proposed as a replacement of the commercially produced CTBN-style resins. Incorporation of such resins to commercial epoxy systems gives an increased toughness, similar to the CTBN additives, but at much lowers cost. The paper discusses the preparation of the epoxidized oils, their characteristics and use in preparation of the vegetable rubber resins. Results of DMA and other tests are discussed. The authors have demonstrated that vegetable oils can be used to partially replace petrochemically derived materials. While exceeding or maintaining the sought-after properties (stiffness, toughness), such systems use renewable raw materials and are therefore environmentally more sound than systems which use only petrochemically derived components.