Modification of cottonseed oil for amine cured epoxy resin: Studies on thermo-mechanical, physico-chemical, morphological and antimicrobial properties

• Amine terminated prepolymer was prepared from epoxidised cottonseed oil.
• This was used in different amounts as a curing agent and plasticiser for DGEBA.
• Triglyceride chains exhibited toughening properties.
• Cured films exhibited superior thermal, mechanical and physicochemical properties.
• The films exhibited inhibition to microbial growth and no antibacterial activity.

Cottonseed oil (CSO) has been transformed into useful polymerizable oxygenated monomers (epoxies) by Prilezhaev epoxidation. The epoxidized cottonseed oil (ECSO) has been used as an internal plasticizer and toughening agent for commercially available diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA). Development of toughening system described in this work involved two steps: (i) reaction of ECSO with triethylenetetramine (TETA) to form amine terminated prepolymer (PPECSO) and (ii) blending PPECSO with DGEBA in different ratios to give crosslinked epoxy networks. Curing of the fully reacted DGEBA/ECSO/TETA blend has been studied by differential scanning calorimetry. Thermal and mechanical properties of modified epoxy resins have been studied to evaluate the plasticizing effect of the vegetable oil derivative. Chemical/solvent resistance, degree of swelling, water vapor transmission, anti-corrosive and antimicrobial properties as well as effect of ECSO content on these properties has also been investigated.

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