TABLE OF CONTENTS Richard P. Wool
Triglycerides are the main component of plant oils, such as soybean oil, corn oil, and so on. They are found in plants, fish, and animals, and are commonly the subject of dietary discussions (e.g., trans fatty acids), rather than discussions about the formation of high-performance composite resins. Triglycerides are composed of three fatty acids connected by a glycerol center (Figure 7.1). The unsaturation sites on the fatty acids [1, 2] can be chemically modified in any of numerous ways, many of which can be used to make polymers, as discussed in Chapter 4. Triglyceride-based polymers have been used in inks and coatings [3, 4], photoresist processes [5], toughening agents in PVC and epoxy resins [6], and as the major component of a number of natural resins [1, 7, 8], composites [9] (Chapter 5), and pressure-sensitive adhesives [10] (Chapter 8).
The triglyceride-based polymers studied in this work are analogous to vinyl esters (VEs) and unsaturated polyesters (UPEs) [11, 12], such that chemically modified triglycerides have multiple functional sites per molecule, which allow the resins to cross-link. In addition, VE, UPE, and triglyceride (TGD) resins are typically copolymerized with a low-molecular-weight species, such as styrene, to modify the properties of the polymer [7, 11, 12]. The low viscosities of these resins make them ideal for inexpensive polymer composite fabrication processes, such as vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding.
Triglyceride-based resins are...
