The use of composite materials is growing every year due to their advantages over traditional building materials; however the resin matrices of these materials are predominantly non-renewable and petroleum based. Since their cost is directly tied to the fluctuating price of crude oil, petroleum based resins will become prohibitively expensive as crude oil becomes scarce. In recent years the development of renewable bio-based resins has gained interest for their potential as replacements for petroleum based resins. Modified carbohydrate-based derivatives that have favorable structural features such as bicyclic and furan rings offers promising candidates for the development of novel renewable polymers with improved thermomechanical properties when compared to early bio-based resins. These compounds have been modified into unsaturated polyesters (UPE) and vinyl ester (VE) resins and thus far have Tgs that are in the desired range for composite materials with viscosities amenable to a variety of liquid molding techniques.

Development of bio-based resins from carbohydrate derived compounds for use in renewable composites

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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