Vegetable oils, phenolic acids, and lignin were investigated as sustainable sources to produce degradable epoxy resins with a reduced environmental impact. Epoxy resins are thermoset polymers widely used in composites, coatings and adhesives, with applications spanning automotive and aerospace industries, structural components, and wind turbine blades, among others. The standard precursor to epoxy resins, the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA), is derived from petroleum and also has potential harmful health impacts. Lignin, an abundant bioresource, was explored as a source for replacing DGEBA in epoxy resins. Vanillic acid, a byproduct of the chemical degradation of lignin was investigated as a replacement for DGEBA in anhydride-cured epoxy resins. Functionalization of vanillic acid with epoxide groups was carried out through allylation, followed by epoxidation. Epoxidized vanillic acid was subsequently cured with an anhydride curing agent. The resulting vanillic acid-based epoxy resins exhibited high glass transition temperatures, comparable to conventional DGEBA-based epoxy resins. The accelerated hydrolytic degradation of epoxy resins containing degradable ester groups, such as in epoxy resins derived from vanillic acid, plant-sourced phenolic acids, and epoxidized soybean oil (ESO), was explored, to provide additional end-of-life options such as composting. The polymer mass loss was monitored after exposure to a base solution at elevated temperature. The biobased epoxy resins exhibited rapid degradation in the base solution, in contrast to the slow degradation rate of the traditional DGEBA-based epoxy resin.

Sustainable and degradable epoxy resins containing multifunctional biobased components

255th National Meeting (2018)

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