Blending of Epoxidised Palm Oil with Epoxy Resin: The Effect on Morphology, Thermal and Mechanical Properties

Epoxy resin prepared by the reaction of a
diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and m-xylylenediamine
(m-XDA) was modified with 10% wt of epoxidized
palm oil (EPO). The EPO was first pre-polymerized with
m-XDA at various temperatures and reaction times. The
resulting product was then mixed with the epoxy resin at
40 �C and allowed to react at 120 �C for another 3 h. The
fully reacted DGEBA/m-XDA/EPO blend was characterized
by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential
scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric analysis,
tensile test, hardness indentation and dynamic mechanical
analysis. The SEM study shows that different types of
morphology, ranging from phase separated to miscible
blends were obtained. A miscible blend was obtained when
the m-XDA and EPO were reacted for more than 2 h. The
results from DSC analysis show that the incorporation of
EPO at 10% wt in the epoxy blend reduced the glass transition temperature (Tg). The lowered Tg and mechanical
properties of the modified epoxy resins are caused by a
reduction in crosslinking density and plasticizer effect