The development of green plastic materials from sustainable biorenewable sources is important for the advancement of sustainable manufacturing technologies. These materials could be prepared by means of a low energy process of photocuring for makingparts in composites, coatings, 3D printing and stereolithography. Our research program is specifically aimed at advancing our ability to tailor the photocationic polymerization and physical properties of sustainable epoxy materials derived from crosslinked epoxidized vegetable oils and terpenes using onium salt photoinitiators. We developed solventless, photopolymerizable epoxy monomer and oligomer systems derived from sustainable biorenewable sources as alternatives to existing highly polluting and energy-intensive thermal curing of epoxy resin chemistry. Two sustainable materials systems will be presented: (1) epoxidized vegetable oils that offer various degrees of crosslinking densities and (2) blends of epoxidized vegetable oils with epoxidized terpenes to tailor their photocuring and mechanical properties for the potential usage in �green� coating, adhesive, 3D printing, and composite applications.

Photocationic polymerization of sustainable epoxy materials from vegetable oils

247th National Meeting (2014)

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