Abstract: Thermosetting polymer from soybean oil has been investigated. The acrylated epoxy resin was obtained by insitu epoxidation of soyabean oil under controlled reaction conditions. Three new polymeric materials were prepared by varying the concentration of the comonomers triethyleneglycoldimethacrylate (TEGMA), methylmethacrylate (MMA) and butylmethacrylate (BMA). The new polymeric materials exhibited tensile stress-strain behaviour ranging from soft rubbers through ductile to relatively brittle plastics. They were characterized with respect to their resistance to chemical reagents and mechanical properties such as tensile strength, percentage elongation and hardness. Thermal characterization such as differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) were carried out. Biodegradability test was carried out using hydrolytic test, chemical resistance test and soil burial test. In the soil burial degradation, the polymer sample showed severe surface degradation due to the attack of microorganism. These soyabean oil based polymers possessed mechanical properties comparable to those of commercially available rubbery materials and conventional plastics and this may serve as a replacement in many applications.


KEY WORDS: Biodegradable, brittle, crosslinkin,, plastics, thermogravimetric analysis.