DETERMINATION OF SOME PROPERTIES OF BLENDS OF POLYSTYRENE AND MODIFIED EPOXIDIZED SOYBEAN OIL RESINS
DETERMINATION OF SOME PROPERTIES OF BLENDS OF POLYSTYRENE AND MODIFIED EPOXIDIZED SOYBEAN OIL RESINS
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Date
2017-02
Authors
IGBOZURUIKE, CHIDIEBERE COLLINS
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Abstract
Soybean oil is among the most abundant, biodegradable, renewable and sustainable vegetable oil in Nigeria that is rich in polyunsaturated fatty-acids, which earned a good candidate for epoxidaton. However, the epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) alone lacks good thermo-mechanical properties. Therefore, ESO is synthesized, thermally pre-cured and finally cured with polystyrene to obtain a blend of good thermo-mechanical properties. The soybean oil sample was subjected to FT-IR spectroscopy to determine the characteristic bands of functional groups, and then analyzed to determine the number of carbon-carbon double bond(s) present in 100g of the oil sample. The result indicated 149.8 as the iodine number. The resultant/determined number of carbon-carbon double bonds was interpreted in terms of molar equivalent and then stoichiometrically combined with peracetic acid (formed in-situ) to yield 9.77% oxirane-oxygen content of the soybean epoxy resin. The resin was subjected to Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FT-IR) spectroscopy within the frequency range of (400-4000) cm-1. The observable peaks showed a characteristic band of 843cm-1, 823cm-1 903cm-1 corresponding to internal, external and terminal oxirane-oxygen rings respectively, with disappearance at peak 3008 and 914 cm-1 at cis- and trans-, di-substituted olefins in soybean oil sample. The epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) was cured thermally to yield a gel coded as modified epoxidized soybean oil (MESO). The MESO was subjected to FT-IR, and the characteristic bands obtained indicated 3400cm-1and above. The MESO was blended with polystyrene in the ratio of 10/0, 9/1, 8/2, 7/3, 6/4, 5/5, 4/6 PS/MESO respectively. The mechanical properties of the blend were studied and the results indicated that 6/4 blend of PS/MESO gave highest values of tensile strength (4.3 x 105 Nm-2) and Young‘s modulus(14.9 x 105 Nm-2) and a lower value of elongation at break 29%. Viscometric study of the blends were carried out and the results affirmed that the blend at 6/4
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PS/MESO composition gave the additive value of R2 from both relative and reduced viscosity measurements respectively. The study showed that thermally cured resin of soybean oil is compatible with polystyrene and thus, at 6/4 PS/MESO composition, serves as reinforcement to polystyrene matrix.
Description
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN POLYMER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY,
FACULTY OF SCIENCE,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY,
ZARIA, NIGERIA
Keywords
PROPERTIES OF BLENDS OF POLYSTYRENE, MODIFIED EPOXIDIZED SOYBEAN OIL RESINS