The demand for degradable polymers has risen greatly in recent years due to the concerns of plastic waste in the environment and has inspired our investigation into degradable epoxy-amine materials. Fully degradable epoxy-amine thermosets were synthesized using hydrolyzable monomers in combination with a commercially available diamine. Ketal-based epoxide monomers were synthesized in high yield using scalable synthetic techniques and commercially available starting materials. All thermoset samples were cured at high temperatures (180<sup>o</sup>C) and resulted in glassy, well-defined networks that were capable of degrading in low pH aqueous solutions. Hydrolytic degradation of each thermoset composition was determined gravimetrically via mass loss vs. time experiments where degradation was found to be tunable based on monomer structure. Additionally, carbon-fiber composites were constructed using our ketal-based epoxide monomers to demonstrate the ability to recycle carbon fibers after complete degradation of the composite matrix.

Hydrolytically degradable epoxy-amine thermosets utilizing hydrolyzable ketal-based epoxide monomers

ACS Spring 2022

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