Study on Crosslinked Structure and Thermal Properties of Polymer Networks Based on Tung Oil and PVA with Different Catalytic Systems

Summary This work focuses on the effect of different catalytic systems on network structures and thermal properties of the polymer networks from poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and Tung oil. The polymer networks based on Tung oil and PVA using potassium persulfate (KPS) as a thermal catalyst or KPS and sodium thiosulfate as a redox catalyst were performed at 60 °C and 80 °C. FTIR results confirmed that Tung oil could be crosslinked by both catalysts. Moreover, at 60 °C, it can be seen that the crosslinking reaction with the redox catalyst could occur better than with the thermal catalyst. To prove the crosslinking reaction of PVA in the polymer networks, water resistance of the polymer networks was also investigated. It was found that the PVA was successfully crosslinked by thermal catalyst but was not by redox catalyst. Besides, from this result, it could be suggested that, in the redox system, structure of the polymer networks was mainly formed by Tung oil. From DMA results, Tg of PVA with the thermal catalyst is higher than that with the redox catalyst because of the network formation of PVA in thermal catalytic system. While the Tg of Tung oil in the polymer networks with the redox catalyst is higher than that with the thermal catalyst. This is reasonable because the crosslinking reaction of Tung oil with the redox catalyst could easily occur better than with the thermal catalyst. Altogether, crosslink structure of Tung oil exhibited major influence on properties of PVA/Tung oil polymer network.