Novel tung oil based copolymers

MEIORIN, C; ARANGUREN, MIRTA; MOSIEWICKI, MIRNA

San José de Costa Rica

Congreso; XII Simposio Latinoamericano de Polímeros, X Congreso Iberoamericano de Polímeros, SLAP 2010; 2010

The high demand for polymers, which are typically derived from the petroleum industry, stresses the need for finding alternative sources for raw supplies. The use of renewable resources, showing advantages, such as being available, renewable, biodegradable and inexpensive, has become gradually more significant. Oils composed mainly by triglyceride molecules with several reactive sites apt for chemical modification, are interesting options. In particular, tung oil, extracted from the seeds of the tung tree is composed mainly of elaeostearic acid. Their highly unsatured and conjugated structure is responsible for the fast polymerization and drying properties of this oil. Conversely, shape memory polymers are smart materials able of fixing a temporary shape and recovering their original sizes by the application of an external stimulus. Materials obtained from tung oil can exhibit these properties depending mainly on the polymerization conditions. The objective of this work is to evaluate the mechanical properties and shape memory behavior of copolymers obtained with tung oil (TO), styrene (St) and divinyilbenzene (DVB).