Synthesis and thermal properties of epoxidized vegetable oil

The novel potential epoxy resins, epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) and epoxidized castor oil (ECO), were synthesized and characterized. The cationic polymerization of ESO and ECO with a latent thermal catalyst, N-benzylpyrazinium hexafluoroantimonate (BPH), was initiated at 80 and 50degreesC, respectively. The cured ECO samples showed a higher T-g and lower coefficient of thermal expansion that those of ESO, due to the higher intermolecular interaction in the ECO/BPH system.