Bio-based thermosetting epoxy foams: mechanical and thermal characterization

ALTUNA F.I.; RUSECKAITE R.A.; STEFANI P.M.

ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

ACS Publications

Año: 2015 vol. 3 p. 1406 - 1411

Thermosetting epoxy foams were synthesized by replacing the commercial synthetic epoxy resin by a biogenic epoxidized vegetable oil. Foams formulations were developed avoiding the use of amines hardeners, organic volatile compounds (OVCs), and ozone depleting or flammable foaming gases. The produced bio-based foams were evaluated in terms of mechanical and thermal properties. It was found that the glass transition temperature (Tg) is somewhat lower than that corresponding to synthetic epoxy foams, but mechanical properties are similar when comparing foams of the same density. Moreover, the possibility of obtaining foams in a wide range of densities (160-550 kg/m3) makes these systems a sound alternative to commercial available formulations.