Enhanced performance of a bio‐based diluent with both vinyl and epoxide groups for unsaturated polyester resin applications

Abstract

Styrene has been widely used as a reactive diluent for a variety of commercial unsaturated polyester resins (UPRs), but suffered from high volatility. In this work, we developed a bio-based reactive diluent, 4-vinylguaiacol glycidyl ether (DE4VG), via an epoxidation of 4-vinylguaiacol (4VG). Excellent miscibility and high reactivity of DE4VG were demonstrated by a series of copolymerization tests with an unsaturated polyester prepolymer (named PMSD) synthesized from maleic anhydride, 1,3-dihydroxypropane and succinic acid. While, significant advantages in terms of viscosity and volatility were confirmed. Additionally, DE4VG provides both vinyl and epoxide groups and the epoxide groups were cured using 4,4-diamino diphenylmethane (DDM) to participate the network formation of the cured PMSD/DE4VG/TBPB/DDM resin, result-