Epoxidized Mesua ferrea L. seed oil-based reactive diluent for BPA epoxy resin and their green nanocomposites

An epoxidized vegetable oil of Mesua ferrea L. seed was prepared and used as a reactive diluent for commercial BPA-based epoxy resin at different compositions for the first time. The prepared epoxidized oil (ENO100) was characterized by determination of physical properties like epoxy equivalent, viscosity, hydroxyl value, saponification value, iodine value, acid value, etc. and FTIR study. The morphology and theological characteristics of the ENO100 modified commercial epoxy systems have been studied by SEM and rheometer. The performance of poly(amido amine) cured above resin systems have been investigated by the measurement of drying time, tensile strength, elongation at break, adhesive strength, impact resistance, scratch hardness, gloss and chemical resistance studies. The results indicate that the epoxidized oil not only reduces the viscosity of the BPA-based epoxy resin but it also enhances the performance of the cured resin. The performance of this system (50 wt.% dilution) was further enhanced by formation of nanocomposites using ex-situ technique with organically modified nanoclay at different dose levels (1-5 wt.%). The formation of nanocomposites was confirmed by XRD, SEM and FTIR studies. The studies of above performance indicate the enhancement of properties compared to pristine system. As naturally renewable diluent is used in the above studies, so the resultant nanocomposites are green high performance materials with zero VOC. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.