Synthesis and Characterization of Acrylated Epoxidized Castor Oil Nanocomposites

Renewable resource-based epoxidized castor oil (ECO) was synthesized and used as a prime material to develop acrylated epoxidized castor oil (AECO) networks. AECO nanocomposites were prepared by the sol-gel method from organo-modified montmorillonite (OMMT) clay and silane. It was found that the AECO/1wt.% OMMT system increased in tensile strength from 28 to 37MPa and flexural strength from 54 to 63MPa as compared with the AECO system. The non-isothermal cure kinetics of the bio-based systems was studied using differential scanning calorimetry. The activation energy of the AECO/OMMT system obtained from Kissinger and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa models is lower than that of AECO system.