An algae-derived partially renewable epoxy resin formulation for glass fibre-reinforced sustainable polymer composites

sustainable thermosets publication

AUTHORS

D. Apostolidis,

JOURNAL

RSC Appl. Polym., 2024, 2, 149

DATE

02 January 2024

PRODUCTS

ABSTRACT

Utilization of sustainable feedstocks to fabricate renewable thermosetting epoxy resins has been of great interest recently; however, their translation into composite structures and benchmark comparisons are poorly understood. Phloroglucinol is a phenolic molecule which could be obtained from brown algae, and its epoxidized form is a high viscosity, high reactivity monomer. In this study, the potential of epoxidized phloroglucinol as a laminating resin was examined in comparison with a bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE) epoxy monomer employing the Epikure 04908 linear amine hardener system. Utilization of a reactive diluent for PHTE resin was necessary for room temperature laminating applications to reduce viscosity, and the thermomechanical properties of PHTE-based resins and composites are superior to those of BADGE systems.

KEYWORDS

Sustainable feedstocks, Epoxidized phloroglucinol, Thermosetting epoxy resins, PHTE

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