Preparation of Epoxidized Soybean Oil for Use as Bio-based Epoxy for Coating Application

Abstract

Epoxidized Soybean Oil (ESO) is widely used in industry such as lubricants and coatings because it is cheap and synthesized from plants that is renewable. The objective of this research is to prepare ESO and crosslinking agent (B) at xESO+yB by volume where x is the ratio of ESO and y is the ratio of B at 1ESO+0.5B, 1ESO+0.75B, 1ESO+1B, 1ESO+2B and 1ESO+3B. The blended materials were mixed in a beaker, stirred with a stirrer and poured into an 1x1x1 inch silicone mold, and then heated to 160, 175, 190 and 205 °C for 1, 3 and 5 hours. The samples were tested for their chemical structure, hardness and thermal properties. In the chemical structure test by FTIR technique. It was found that ESO showed the wave number of 827 cm^-1, which was the peak of the epoxy group. In the hardness test, it was found that at 160 °C, all ratios did not solidity and the workpiece began to harden at 175 °C and the hardness increased at the temperature of 190 °C as 1ESO+1B gave a maximum average hardness of 99.75 HA. However, the hardness decreased when the temperature was increased to 205 °C, because at this temperature the materials might be degraded. In addition, according to the thermal properties test it was found that at the ratio of 1ESO+1B, had at the lowest endothermic temperature of 129.21 °C, which can be concluded that the 1ESO+1B was the optimal proportion for the applications. This ratio was used to coat wood to prevent water absorption and coat nails to prevent rust. It was found that the water absorption of wood reduced and nails did not have rust.