Biobased polyester from soybean oil: Synthesis, characterization and degradation studies

Industrially used polymers derived from fossil fuels have a negative environmental impact when being disposed of. They could be efficientlyreplaced by natural polymers, which are potentially degradable and which can match or even surpass them in mechanical performance. In this work, a rigid thermosetting polymer is obtained by copolymerization of maleinated acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (MAESO) with styrene (St). MAESO is synthetized by epoxidation, acrylation and maleinization from industrial soybean oil (SO). Resin characterization is performed using FT-IR, 1H NMR and SEC, while copolymer characterization includes a mechanical test, degradation test and SEM. The aim of this work is the replacement of unsaturated polyester (UP) and the optimization of the SO modificationreaction in MAESO. The replacement of UP by 25, 50 and 100% of MAESO enables improvements in the mechanical properties. Additionally, it is assessed whether the replacement of UP by MAESO is enough to improve the degradation properties, and the effect of degradation on the mechanical properties is analyzed. MAESO-St copolymers improve the degradation process in relation to UP, and 240 days of in vitro degradation in the presence of Aspergillus niger and Alternaria alternata fungi causes cracks, surface damage and changes in the mechanical properties of the degraded copolymer.