3D printing acrylated epoxidized soybean oil reinforced with functionalized cellulose by UV curing

Authors: Liu, Zengshe - Kevin; Knetzer, Daniel - Dan; WANG, JIFU - Institute Of Chemical Industry Of Forest Products (ICIFP); CHU, FUXIANG - Institute Of Chemical Industry Of Forest Products (ICIFP); LU, CHUANWEI - Institute Of Chemical Industry Of Forest Products (ICIFP); CALVERT, PAUL - New Mexico Institute Of Mining & Technology

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Polymer Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/8/2021
Publication Date: 9/2/2021
Citation: Liu, Z., Knetzer, D.A., Wang, J., Chu, F., Lu, C., Calvert, P.D. 2021. 3D printing acrylated epoxidized soybean oil reinforced with functionalized cellulose by UV curing. Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 139(4):e51561. https://doi.org/10.1002/app.51561.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/app.51561

Interpretive Summary: Due to the speculative nature of petroleum prices and supply, and emerging public awareness of environmental issues, researchers are working to produce polymeric materials from renewable resources, mainly vegetable oils and cellulose. In this research, we developed soybean oil based materials reinforced with cellulose that have strong mechanical properties and better thermal properties. These materials are of great environmental interest because these composites consist of high amounts of agricultural resources. This technology will explore the industrial application of soybean oil, value added products, and benefit the farmers.

Technical Abstract: In this research, a 3D printing technique was employed for processing biobased composites of polyacrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) with modified ethyl cellulose macromonomer (ECM). In this 3D printing process, objects are built in a layer-by-layer fashion by depositing formulated liquid solutions on a platform and rapidly transformed into a solid film cured by UV light. The sustainable materials consisting of ECM and AESO biopolymer were examined for their physical and thermal properties. Samples with different ECM and AESO weight ratios were prepared. Tensile test results showed the ECM-AESO composites had higher strength and stiffness than AESO alone. Their tensile strengths with ECM weight contents from 30 wt.% to 5 wt.% are between 11.5 MPa and 5.9 MPa and Young’s moduli are between 167 MPa and 56 MPa, compared to AESO polymer itself with 4.3 MPa and 27.4 MPa, respectively. Further, the glass transition temperatures of all ECM-AESO composites were increased from 57.4 to 82.2°C, compared to AESO polymer itself with 47.1 °C. Thermal properties of the ECM-AESO composites are stable up to 325 °C. These materials may be of great environmental interest because these composites consist of high amounts of agricultural resources.