Studies on the Thermal, Mechanical and Chemical Resistance Properties of Natural Resource Derived Polymers

Cardanol-based epoxidized resole resins (ERCF) were synthesized by reacting resole type phenolic resin (RCF) and epichlorohydrin in basic medium, at 120 °C. Resole type phenolic resins were synthesized by reacting cardanol (C) and formaldehyde (F) in the presence of sodium hydroxide, as catalyst, at five different temperatures ranging between 60-80 °C with an interval of 5 °C for a maximum period of 6h. These prepared samples were cured using 15% polyamide as curing agent at 120 ± 2 °C for 1h. Mechanical and chemical resistance characteristics of prepared samples were evaluated to assess the possibility of using such thermosetting resins as a new eco-friendly material for engineering applications. Upon evaluation, it was found that the prepared resins systems exhibit better properties compared to commercial epoxy resin in term of increase in tensile strength, elongation-at-break and impact strength, of castings and gloss, scratch hardness, adhesion and flexibility of the films. The anticorrosive properties from chemical resistance of the prepared resin systems are found to be superior than unmodified epoxy resins. The TG/DTG thermograms showed two step decomposition behaviors in all the prepared samples.