Mesua ferrea L. Seed Oil-Based Epoxy Resins

Exhaustion of fossil fuels, tremendous increase of materials demand, and unpredictable prices of petroleum based products urge upon the sustainable development. Three different epoxy resins have been synthesized from monoglyceride of Meson ferrea L. seed oil and epichlorohydrin with and without other dihydroxy compound like tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBPA) and bisphenol-A (BPA). The synthesized epoxy resin were characterized by measurement of physical properties like epoxy equivalent, viscosity, hydroxyl value, saponification value, acid value, etc., and spectroscopic techniques like FTIR and H-1 NMR. High thermostability with initial decompositions temperature of 225-265 degrees C was observed for the cured resins and 75 mol % BPA based resin exhibits the highest thermostability. Newtonian flow behavior was observed for all resins as indicated by the rheometric study (CVO 100). The flame retardency rating of TBPA based epoxy was found to be V1 as tested by UL 94. The performance characteristics as coating materials were studied by the measurement of gloss, impact resistance, scratch hardness, tensile strength, elongation at break, adhesive strength, and chemical resistance. The results indicate the suitability of the synthesized resins as coating materials. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 118: 128-134, 2010