The use of E-beam to optimize the properties of fatty acid-based polymers

John J. La Scala, Jihean Lee, Che Lee, James M. Sands, Giuseppe R. Palmese

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Abstract

Recently, the Federal EPA increased legislation to address hazardous emissions from composite manufacturing and repair by enacting new emission standards, which specifically target styrene as a regulated hazardous air pollutant. One method of reducing styrene emissions from vinyl ester (VE) resins is to replace some or all of the styrene with fatty acid-based monomers. Fatty acid monomers are ideal candidates because they are inexpensive, have low volatilities, and promote global sustainability. Thermal cure of these resins results in materials with fairly low T g and moduli. E-beam cure has been found to increase T g by 25°C and increase the modulus by 20%. FTIR analysis showed that these property improvements can be attributed to higher monomer conversion with E-beam relative to thermal cure. In addition, fatty acid monomers can be potentially used as a component in rubbery materials and elastomers. To test their ability to be used in these materials, fatty acid monomers were mixed with small amounts (<10%) of multi-functional monomers, such as VE and acrylated triglycerides. These polymers were very fragile when thermally cured. On the other hand, the resulting polymers were much tougher and had higher T g and monomer conversions when cured via E-beam.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)143-154
Number of pages12
JournalInternational SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition (Proceedings)
Volume49
StatePublished - 2004
Externally publishedYes
Event49th International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition: Materials and Processing Technology - 60 Years of SAMPE Progress, SAMPE 2004 - Long Beach, CA, United States
Duration: May 16 2004May 20 2004

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Materials Science(all)
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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