The development of green polymers for commercial applications such as coatings, adhesives, composites, elastomers, and adhesives has gained momentum in recent years. Converting soybean oil into green resins will reduce our dependence on oil reserves and increase the U.S. market share in the field of biorenewable polymers. Our approaches toward the synthesis of crosslinked polymers include alkene- and alkyne chemistries based on the triglyeride (Scheme 1). This talk will report high-bio content and low toxicity resins derived from functionalized plant oils for various applications via the “ene” chemistry to facilitate commercialization of these green resins. The targeted properties of these green resins are high glass transition temperature of at least 120 °C, Young’s modulus greater than 2000 MPa, and more than 80% bio-content. The bio-content of composites may also be increased using by replacing mineral fillers with renewable biomass fillers.&lt;span style="font-size:11px; line-height:17px"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;With a density of approximately 1 g/cm<sup>3</sup>, biomass fillers yield compounds at equivalent volume reinforcement with a 20-25% weight reduction compared to mineral filler, which have specific gravities of roughly 2.5 g/cm<sup>3</sup>. This talk will also present a variety of treatments that were studied to reduce the hydrophilic nature of the biomass precursor, especially thermal treatment, which can lead to cure inhibition in the composite systems. Dielectric analysis, squeeze flow rheometry and mechanical testing were employed to evaluate the process and performance of the soy-filler compounds.

Soy-Based Resins and Fillers for Thermoset Composites

251st National Meeting (2016)

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