Polymer composite materials, adhesives, and coatings are derived from non-renewable petroleum sources, making their use unsustainable and causing their cost to be highly volatile. Furthermore, these polymer materials often contain toxic components or produce toxic emissions. To address these issues, we have used plant-derived renewable resources to develop a number of polymer technologies with properties and performance similar to that of petroleum-derived polymers. We formulated and developed fatty acid-based vinyl ester resins derived from plant oils and successfully demonstrated and validated them on weapons platforms across the DoD. We have been addressing toxicity issues associated with bisphenol, a component used in the production of many high performance polymers. Through use of polymers from lignin-derived chemicals, such as guaiacol, and carbohydrate-derived isosorbide and furans, we have created a number of polymers with properties similar or superior to that of commercial polymers. Furthermore, we have shown that these bio-derived chemicals and polymers have reduced toxicity relative to the baseline commercial polymers. As a result, we are currently preparing diamines derived from carbohydrates and lignin to reduce the toxicity and improve the sustainability of polyimides and epoxies.

Environmentally friendly high performance bio-derived polymers for DoD applications

254th National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.