Dynamic Mechanical Characterization of a Soy Based Epoxy Resin System

Epoxidized allyl soyate (EAS), a novel soy based epoxy resin, has been prepared by the process of transesterfication and epoxidation of regular food grade soybean oil. Two types of crosslinking agents were employed in this study. The effects of the concentration of EAS and the type of crosslinking agent on the dynamic mechanical behavior of the soy based resin system have been investigated. The room temperature storage moduli (E ) and the glass transition temperatures (Tg) increased for the anhydride cured and decreased for the amine cured resins. The loss tangent maximum (tan )max decreased for anhydride cured resins and increased for amine cured resins. The effect of frequency on the storage modulus was also studied. Master curves were constructed by the time-temperature superpositioning technique (TTS) to predict the storage modulus at times and temperatures that are not experimentally feasible. The results indicate that soy based epoxy resins with appropriate concentrations hold great potential as a replacement for petroleum based materials in noise and vibration attenuation applications. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 98: 1772–1780, 2005