Bio-based monomers instead of traditional material in the preparation of polyester resin

Unsaturated Polyesters Resins (UPR) are largely prepared using non-renewable resources, while bio-based raw materials can reduce the use of petroleum-based chemicals, which contributes to sustainability.

The objective of the actual research was to investigate the effect of bio-based monomer i.e. itaconic acid for the synthesis of Unsaturated Polyester Resin (UPR) as replacement to traditional material like maleic anhydride. The synthesis of partial bio-based UPR involves the reactions of itaconic acid and maleic anhydride at different molar concentrations with isophthalic acid and neopentyl glycol.

Sheets of 3.5 mm thickness

The synthesised resin was further characterised by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Also, curing parameters were studied. Further synthesised UPR was processed into sheets of 3.5 mm thickness and the thermal and mechanical behaviour were tested by using dynamic mechanical experiments and thermal analysis.

Substitution of maleic anhydride by itaconic acid proved to be advantageous since it offers improved mechanical properties with slight compromise of thermal properties.

The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 147, October 2020.