Thermal and rheological properties of vegetable oil-based epoxy resins cured with thermally latent initiator

Bio-based epoxy materials were prepared from ftinctionalized vegetable oils (epoxidized soybean oil [ESO] and epoxidized castor oil [ECO]) cured respectively with a thermally latent initiator, N-benzylquinox-alinium hexafluoroantimonate (BQH). The cure behaviors as well as the thermal and rheological properties of the ESO/BQH and ECO/BQH systems were investigated. In the result, the peak maximum temperature and cure activation energy of the ESO/BQH system were higher than those of the ECO/BQH system. Additionally, the ESO/BQH system showed a higher thermal stability and a lower glass transition temperature than those of the ECO/BQH system. It was also found that the cross-linking activation energy of the ESO/BQH system was higher than that of the ECO/BQH system, due to the steric hindrance induced by intermolecular interactions between ESO and BQH in polymerization.