High strength, acid-resistant composites from canola, sunflower, or linseed oils: Influence of triglyceride unsaturation on material properties

Claudia V. Lopez, Menisha S. Karunarathna, Moira K. Lauer, Charini P. Maladeniya, Timmy Thiounn, Edward D. Ackley, Rhett C. Smith

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

42 Scopus citations

Abstract

Here are reported composites made by crosslinking unsaturated units in canola, sunflower, or linseed oil with sulfur to yield CanS, SunS, and LinS, respectively. These plant oils were selected because the average number of crosslinkable unsaturated units per triglyceride vary from 1.3 for canola to 1.5 for sunflower and 1.8 for linseed oil. The remeltable composites show compressive strengths that increase with increasing unsaturation number from CanS (9.3 MPa) to SunS (17.9 MPa) to LinS (22.9 MPa). These values for SunS and LinS are competitive when compared with the value of 17 MPa required for residential building using traditional Portland cement. The plant oil composites are recyclable over many cycles and can retain up to 100% of strength after 24 hr in oxidizing acid under conditions where Portland cement is dissolved in under 30 min. Infusion of the composites into premade cement blocks affords them with significantly improved acid resistance as well. This work thus provides a simple, nearly 100% atom economical route to convert plant oils and waste sulfur to composites having enhanced performance over commercial structural materials.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2259-2266
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Polymer Science
Volume58
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 15 2020
Externally publishedYes

Funding

We thank the Animal Coproducts Research and Education Center and the National Science Foundation (CHE‐1708844) for financial support. National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: CHE‐1708844 Funding information

Keywords

  • inverse vulcanization
  • polymerization
  • sulfur
  • sustainable composites
  • triglyceride

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