Generally, gel coat is a material used to provide a high-quality finish on the visible surface of a fiber-reinforced composites (FRPs) and can be found on many familiar products, such as boat hulls, ski plates, pools, and automotive body panels. The most common gel coats are thermosetting polymers including epoxy or unsaturated polyester resin. Although the gel coats based on epoxy or unsaturated polyester are much more common, the gel coat based on polyurethane are used because of excellent ultraviolet (UV) light and resistance to degradation by atmospheric oxygen and moisture.<br/>The renewable raw material, lignin, was the second abundant natural polymer and important organic bioresource in the refining industry. It is a three-dimensional, highly cross-linked macromolecule composed of mostly aromatic rings having various branching.<br/>The combination of polyurethane-based gel coat with lignin should be used to fabricate highly gloss surface without negative environmental impact. However, phase separation phenomenon is typically observed when pristine lignin was blended with common petroleum-based polymer due to its high hydrophilicity. Consequently, chemically modifications are necessary for increasing miscibility of the pristine lignin.<br/>In this study, we designed and modified the polycaprolactone-grafted lignin (PCL-g-Lignin) to increase miscibility with urethane-based gel coat components. This PCL-g-Lignin played the role of polyol in the urethane-based gel coats. The effect of surface modified lignin in the gel coats was investigated by measuring physical properties of the urethane gel coats. Their thermal stabilities and mechanical properties as well as surface characteristics were also studied using FT-IR, TGA, DSC, UTM, surface hardness and contact angle measurements.<br/>

Preparation and coating performances of urethane-based gel coats consisted of polycaprolactone-graft-lignin polyol

254th National Meeting (2017)

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