Effect of Epoxidized Jatropha Oil on the Cure, Thermal, Morphological and Viscoelastic Properties of Epoxy Resins

This article reports the effect of epoxidized jatropha oil (EJO) on the thermal, cure and viscoelastic properties of epoxy resins. Epoxidized jatropha oil with an oxirane value of 5.0 was prepared and epoxy formulations containing different concentrations of EJO were evaluated for cure, morphology, thermal and viscoelastic properties. The curing temperature of the formulations increased with increasing EJO content. The glass transition temperature of the cured films decreased from 56 degrees C for unmodified epoxy resin to 23 degrees C for the sample with 60 wt% EJO reactive diluent, suggesting good plasticizing action. The thermal decomposition was only marginally affected.