Lignin was investigated as a sustainable source to produce epoxy resins with desirable physical behavior. 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. Vanillic acid, a product of lignin depolymerization, was investigated as a replacement for conventional diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) in anhydride-cured epoxy resins. The resulting vanillic acid-based epoxy resins exhibited high glass transition temperatures and similar elongation at tensile behavior as compared to DGEBA-based epoxy resins. The ester groups in the cured network were also leveraged to enhance the end-of-life options for the epoxy resins. The accelerated hydrolytic degradation behavior of the epoxy resins was explored, through monitoring the mass loss after exposure to basic or acidic solutions at moderate temperatures. The vanillic acid-based epoxy resins exhibited rapid degradation, in contrast to the slow degradation rate of the DGEBA-based epoxy resin. The mass loss behavior showed good agreement with predictions with a solid-state kinetic model and chemical analyses confirmed the degradation mechanisms were surface and bulk erosion in basic and acidic solutions, respectively, through ester hydrolysis.

Sustainable and degradable epoxy resins containing multifunctional lignin-based components

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