Biobased Polymer

The present study highlights the structure and property relationships of epoxidized castor oil (ECO) toughened Diglycidyl Ether of Bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy nanocomposites. Toughened epoxy systems have been prepared by an addition of 10–40 wt% ECO to the DGEBA epoxy resin. Nanocomposites were prepared by mixing small amounts of Cloisite 30B (C30B) clay and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane to the DGEBA/ECO blends. The chemical structure of toughened systems was confirmed using proton nuclear magnetic resonance and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The triethylenetetraamine-cured DGEBA/ECO/C30B (8:2:0.1) nanocomposites exhibited tensile strength (50 MPa), tensile modulus (1.7 GPa), flexural strength (120 MPa), flexural modulus (3.02 GPa), and elongation (19%). The fracture toughness (critical intensity factor, KIC) and fracture energy (critical energy release rate, GIC) of DGEBA/ECO/C30B (8:2:0.1) system found to be higher than the other systems (2.5 MPa.m1/2 and 1.8 kJ/m2 for KIC and GIC, respectively). The thermal stability and heat of reaction of DGEBA/ECO blends increase with the addition of C30B clays that were analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. Rheological characterizations of uncured samples revealed a pronounced effect of the C30B clay on the DGEBA/ECO blend systems that exhibited a shear-thickening behavior. On the other hand, the dynamic mechanical properties also revealed that the addition of C30B clays to the DGEBA/ECO blend a significant enhancements in viscoelastic and cross linking density behavior. Scanning electron microscope analysis was used to study the fractured morphology of DGEBA, DGEBA/ECO, and its nanocomposite systems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

La seconde moitié du XX e siècle, appelée parfois « âge des plastiques », a connu un essor exponentiel des matériaux polymères dans tous les secteurs de l'activité industrielle. Si la production de polymères continue de croître aujourd'hui, tous les pays développés sont face à de nouveaux challenges en rapport avec la raréfaction des énergies fossiles et les problématiques du développement durable. De nombreux travaux de recherche conduits dans des écoles membres de la Fédération Gay-Lussac cherchent à apporter une contribution à ce domaine en explorant de nouveaux aspects de la science des polymères. Sont concernés : des réactions de polymérisation non conventionnelles, de nouveaux types de réseaux tridimensionnels, la valorisation de polymères naturels, les biocomposites et nano-biocomposites, la durabilité des pièces en polymère.

In recent years, the negative effects on the environment of the intensive use of synthetic, oil-derived plastics to make products have given renewed impetus to the search for biodegradable materials obtained from renewable sources, particularly biopolymers derived from vegetable, animal or microbial matter that could prove to be a sound alternative in a number of applications. However, the real challenge is to create new materials from food waste and not from specially grown crops, whose production in any case comes at an environmental cost.
In recent years, the testing of substances made from food waste has increased significantly; the sheer abundance of raw materials that can be used to make them has encouraged institutional research, as well as an approach to project development that has been widely embraced by the many young designers who craft these materials.
This paper considers all aspects of these materials, starting from a historical overview. It presents some of the most interesting experiments underway, and envisages possible future scenarios.

Development of polyamide 4,10 (PA 4,10) from renewable resources is a positive step towards replacement of traditional polyamides. The environmental impact of PA 4,10 is further improved through incorporation of sustainable biocarbon (BioC) filler derived from agro-residues, specifically corn cob. Pyrolysis improved filler stability at high temperatures required for PA 4,10 processing as opposed to raw corn cob, with biocomposites in the present work having an elevated biocontent to 76%. Corn cob BioC pyrolyzed at 350, 500, and 900 • C was characterized to elucidate its interactions with PA 4,10, finding a pyrolysis temperature of 350 • C providing strong interfacial adhesion via particle encapsulation. Biocomposites maintained similar mechanical and thermal properties as compared to neat polymer. Hindrance of crack propagation and rigidity of filler particles led to improvements in tensile modulus and heat deflection temperature by 6 and 12%, respectively. These composites provide a route to diminish reliance on petroleum-based polyamide products.

A B S T R A C T Poly-hydroxyalkanoate was introduced as a bio-based polymer in many countries many years ago, owing to its biocompatibility and degradation value in the nature. The importance of PHA production of plants and microorganisms is due to its biodegradability and biocompatibility of its structure and materials, which because of this property they will return to the nature and will be replaced with petrochemical plastics. These products were identified as environmentally friendly products in the 21-century. The great potential of PHA as a renewable product, to be produced from industrial waste oils. However, by producing PHA, the environment will be clear of pollutants by using the waste products of factories at first and secondly by circulating the biopolymers to the nature. In the current review, we have focused on PHA production from dairy residues, soybean oil and saponified waste palm oil and some microorganisms such as Pseudomonas, Delftia, Halomonas and E. coli. Amongst different varieties of bacteria Pseudomonas has the highest ability to produce PHA. The global shares of PHA generation in various market segments in 2013 and 2020 shows that capacity production will increase until 2020 and the most production of PHA will be in Asia due to their superior accessibility to feedstock and promising political frame.

a b s t r a c t 21st Century is treated as the century for highly branched macromolecules, because of their unique structural architecture and outstanding performance characteristics, in the field of polymer science. In the present study, castor oil-based two hyperbranched polyurethanes (HBPUs) were synthesized via A 2 + B 3 approach using castor oil or monoglyceride of the castor oil as the hydroxyl containing B 3 reactant and toluene diisocyanate (TDI) as an A 2 reactant along with 1,4-butane diol (BD) as the chain extender and poly(-caprolactone) diol (PCL) as a macroglycol. The adopted 'high dilution and slow addition' technique offers hyperbranched polymers with high yield and good solubility in most of the polar aprotic solvents. Fourier transforms infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses confirmed the chemical structure of synthesized polymers, while wide angle X-ray diffraction (WXRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) resulted the insight of their physical structures. The degree of branching was calculated from 1 H NMR and found to be 0.57 for castor oil based hyperbranched polyurethane (CHBPU), while it was 0.8 for monoglyceride based hyperbranched polyurethane (MHBPU). The studies showed that MHBPU and CHBPU exhibited tensile strength 11 MPa and 7 MPa, elongation at break 695% and 791%, scratch hardness 5 kg and 4.5 kg, gloss 84 and 72, respectively. Thermal properties like thermo stability, melting point, enthalpy, degree of crystallinity and glass transition temperature (T g ); and chemical resistance in different chemical media were found to be almost equivalent for both the polyurethanes. The measurements of dielectric constant and lost factor indicated that both the HBPUs behave as dielectric materials. Thus the synthesized HBPUs have the potential to be used as advanced surface coating materials.

Renewable aromatics can be conveniently synthesized from furanics by introducing an intermediate hydro-genation step in the Diels–Alder (DA) aromatization route, to effectively block retro-DA activity. Aromatization of the hydrogenated DA adducts requires tandem catalysis, using a metal-based dehydrogenation catalyst and solid acid dehydration catalyst in toluene. Herein it is demonstrated that the hydrogenated DA adducts can instead be conveniently converted into renewable aromatics with up to 80% selectivity in a solid-phase reaction with shorter reaction times using only an acidic zeolite,t hat is,w ithout solvent or dehydrogenation catalyst. Hydrogenated adducts from diene/dienophile combinations of (methylated) furans with maleic anhydride are efficiently converted into renewable aromatics with this new route.The zeoliteH-Y was found to perform the best and can be easily reused after calcination.

Providing guidelines for implementing sustainable practices for traditional petroleum based plastics, biobased plastics, and recycled plastics, Sustainable Plastics and the Environment explains what sustainable plastics are, why sustainable plastics are needed, which sustainable plastics to use, and how manufacturing companies can integrate them into their manufacturing operations. A vital resource for practitioners, scientists, researchers, and students, the text includes impacts of plastics including Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and sustainability strategies related to biobased plastics and petroleum based plastics as well as end-of-life options for petroleum and biobased plastics.

In this report, a tough elastomeric hyperbranched polyurethane/reduced graphene oxide (HPU/RGO) nanocomposite was fabricated by an in situ polymerization technique. Reduction of graphene oxide was carried out by a green sonochemical approach using the combined effect of sonication and Fe 3+ ions in presence of Colocasia esculenta leaves aqueous extract. The reduction occurred only in 3 min, while 8 min was required without sonication. Prepared RGO and nanocomposites were characterized by different spectroscopic and analytical tools. The nanocomposite demonstrated excellent thermal stability and mechanical properties, such as tensile strength (27.8 MPa), tensile modulus (36.3 MPa) and toughness (116 MJ m À3 ). The nanocomposite also exhibited outstanding multi-stimuli responsive shape memory behaviour under direct sunlight, microwave (360 W) and heat energy (60 C). The performance of the nanocomposite was dependent on the loading of RGO (0.5-2.5 wt%). Thus, these nanocomposites have tremendous potential to be used as advanced non-contact triggered smart materials for different applications, including biomedical.

Poly-hydroxyalkanoate was introduced as a bio-based polymer in many countries many years ago, owing to its biocompatibility and degradation value in the nature. The importance of PHA production of plants and microorganisms is due to its biodegradability and biocompatibility of its structure and materials, which because of this property they will return to the nature and will be replaced with petrochemical plastics. These products were identified as environmentally friendly products in the 21-century. The great potential of PHA as a renewable product, to be produced from industrial waste oils. However, by producing PHA, the environment will be clear of pollutants by using the waste products of factories at first and secondly by circulating the biopolymers to the nature. In the current review, we have focused on PHA production from dairy residues, soybean oil and saponified waste palm oil and some microorganisms such as Pseudomonas, Delftia, Halomonas and E. coli. Amongst different varieties of bacteria Pseudomonas has the highest ability to produce PHA. The global shares of PHA generation in various market segments in 2013 and 2020 shows that capacity production will increase until 2020 and the most production of PHA will be in Asia due to their superior accessibility to feedstock and promising political frame.

In this study, the friction and wear behavior of soybean oil-based polymers prepared by cationic polymerization of low saturated soybean oil (LSS) with divinyl benzene and polystyrene are evaluated as a function of crosslink density. Tribological measurements were performed on samples of three crosslink densities (10%, 15% and 20% of crosslinking agent concentration by weight) using a ball-on-flat reciprocating microtribometer with normal loads ranging from 0 to 800 mN. Friction and wear behavior during dry sliding was evaluated using a spherical (1.2 mm radius) silicon nitride probe as well as a conical (100 m radius, 90 • cone angle) diamond probe. Friction behavior was evaluated from single strokes at ramped normal loads, whereas wear experiments were evaluated from 10 to 500 reciprocating cycles at fixed normal loads. All samples showed comparable coefficients of friction. In general a higher crosslinking density resulted in lower adhesive wear. Increased abrasive wear was observed for the lowest and highest crosslinking densities. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy of wear tracks were used to elucidate deformation mechanisms in the various samples. These results provide some insight into the friction and wear behavior of soybean oil-based polymers.

In this report, a tough elastomeric hyperbranched polyurethane/reduced graphene oxide (HPU/RGO) nanocomposite was fabricated by an in situ polymerization technique. Reduction of graphene oxide was carried out by a green sonochemical approach using the combined effect of sonication and Fe 3+ ions in presence of Colocasia esculenta leaves aqueous extract. The reduction occurred only in 3 min, while 8 min was required without sonication. Prepared RGO and nanocomposites were characterized by different spectroscopic and analytical tools. The nanocomposite demonstrated excellent thermal stability and mechanical properties, such as tensile strength (27.8 MPa), tensile modulus (36.3 MPa) and toughness (116 MJ m À3 ). The nanocomposite also exhibited outstanding multi-stimuli responsive shape memory behaviour under direct sunlight, microwave (360 W) and heat energy (60 C). The performance of the nanocomposite was dependent on the loading of RGO (0.5-2.5 wt%). Thus, these nanocomposites have tremendous potential to be used as advanced non-contact triggered smart materials for different applications, including biomedical.

Toxicity concerns over bisphenol A (BPA) based materials like polycarbonates or diglycidyl ether ofbisphenol A (BADGE) lead to their progressive substitution in food packaging and can coating applications,even if the eventual release of BPA in food remains debatable. In this paper, we study the adhesive, waterresistance and thermo-mechanical properties of a bio-based BADGE substitution candidate issued fromCardanol (CardDE). Different formulations with increasing ratio of BADGE substitution were evaluated,highlighting a real prospect for BPA-based epoxy substitution. During these studies, an unconventionalrelationship between water uptake by the biobased adhesive and property loss due to plasticization wasevidenced. The water resistance of CardDE adhesives was investigated in detail revealing a plasticizationthreshold at elevated water content, attributed to their hydrophobic structure. While the adhesive prop-erties of conventional BADGE networks are prematurely affected, the deterioration of CardDE adhesivesis delayed.