Renewable thermoset copolymers from tung oil and natural terpenes

Abstract

The cationic copolymerization of tung oil, limonene, and myrcene as comonomers, initiated by boron trifluoride, is presented and discussed in this work. Dynamic mechanical analysis revealed that all copolymers behave as thermosets. FTIR spectra for both copolymers, after extraction with dichloromethane, suggested that the major component of the insoluble fraction was reacted tung oil (a cross‐linked triglyceride network). Likewise, unreacted tung oil was found to be the main component of the soluble phase. Also, all the copolymers showed only one tan δ peak, indicating no phase separation. Glass transition temperature (Tg) increased with the myrcene content and decreased almost linearly as the limonene content increased. Furthermore, the Fox and Loshaek model showed a relatively good prediction of the Tg values of the polymers. The Young's modulus ranged from 33.8 to 4.7 MPa for all tested thermosets. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 41155.

Synthesis and characterization of high cis‐polymyrcene using neodymium‐based catalysts

“…Polymyrcene has similar dynamic mechanical properties to natural rubber, but the modulus values at its rubbery plateau are still too low to consider polymyrcene as a replacement for natural rubber in applications at room temperature. One option is to increase the modulus through copolymerization of myrcene with stiffness monomers, such as styrene or other renewable monomers . Nevertheless, results are promising for developing renewable elastomers with optimal properties and for producing rubber formulation, adhesive, or plastics modifiers.…”

“…One option is to increase the modulus through copolymerization of myrcene with stiffness monomers, such as styrene or other renewable monomers. [49] Nevertheless, results are promising for developing renewable elastomers with optimal properties and for producing rubber formulation, adhesive, or plastics modifiers.…”

Effect of Microwave Cure on the Thermo-Mechanical Properties of Tung Oil-Based/Carbon Nanotube Composites

“…It has been shown that these reactions result in highly crosslinked polymer networks [12][13][14][15]. Likewise, tung oil has been used as a key component in cationic bio-based thermosets by crosslinking it with limonene and myrcene [16]. Tung oil has also been used in more straight-forward applications, such as protecting coatings for wood surfaces [17], and protein films [18], or as a strengthening additive for unsaturated polyester resins [19].…”

Sustainable rubbers and rubber additives

“…Shibata and Asano reported the preparation of biobased thermosetting polymers by the reaction of maleimides with myrcene and limonene. The cationic copolymerization of tung oil, limonene, and myrcene as comonomers is also reported in the literature . Wang et al .…”