Sulfur is an abundant waste product of petroleum refinement, but sulfur has very limited use in its elemental state. A new method, inverse vulcanization, uses solvent-free conditions to incorporate elemental sulfur into a stable copolymer. For this project, varied amounts of sulfur was integrated with the following natural dienes: diallyl sulfide, diallyl disulfide, and garlic essential oil (GEO) to form polymers. Even without elemental sulfur, GEO was able to initiate polymerization. These polymers were then applied to Al adherends, overlapped in shear and cured at 160 °C for 24 hrs. The strength was tested in tensile using the Instron Material Testing System. To improve the strength of poly(GEO), divinyl benzene (DVB) was incorporated to add rigidity to the polymer backbone. Poly(GEO-DVB) exhibited adhesive failure meaning the material interacted with itself more than the adherend surface. In order to increase the surface interaction 3,4-dimethoxystyrene (DMS) was incorporated. DMS is a mimic of dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) found in aquatic mussel foot proteins and has been found to improve polymer adhesion strength. The amount of sulfur to DMS was varied to determine the impact on adhesion strength. All polymers were analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, thin layer chromatography, and tested for solubility.

Developing adhesives from elemental sulfur, garlic extracts, and divinylbenzene through inverse vulcanization

2019 Spring National Meeting

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