I-Corps: Commercialization Feasibility for a Polymer Technology Based on Renewables

该研究小组开发的植物油基聚合物技术具有一些主要特性，将为可再生材料带来新的应用机会。首先，每个分子的官能团，如双键、羟基和环氧化物基团的数量非常高，这已经被证明可以显著降低固化率，提高热固性材料的玻璃化转变温度、模量、拉伸强度、硬度和耐化学性等性能。此外，共聚已被用于提高聚合物的热机械性能，赋予理想的溶解度/分散性特性，并引入理想的活性官能团到聚合物中。一些新型聚合物已被证明在某些应用中达到或超过石化基材料的性能。目前，大约90%的化学品都是基于化石资源。由于化石资源的有限性、石油价格的剧烈波动以及对环境的关注，社会对将可再生资源用于目前使用石化产品的应用产生了更大的兴趣。这种可再生聚合物技术的成功进一步发展有可能减少社会对化石资源的依赖，同时也减少与石化材料相关的环境问题。

The plant oil-based polymer technology developed by the research group possesses some major attributes that will lead to new application opportunities for renewable materials. First, the number of functional groups, such as double bonds, hydroxyl groups, and epoxide groups, per molecule is very high, which has been shown to dramatically reduce cure rates and increase properties such as glass transition temperature, modulus, tensile strength, hardness, and chemical resistance of thermosets. In addition, copolymerization has been used to increase polymer thermomechanical properties, impart desirable solubility/dispersibility characteristics, and to introduce desirable reactive functional groups to polymers. Several of the novel polymers have been shown to meet or exceed the performance of petrochemical-based materials for some applications.At present, about 90% of all chemicals are based on fossil resources. Due to the finite nature of fossil resources, dramatic fluctuations in the price of oil, and concerns about the environment, society has taken a greater interest in the use of renewable resources for applications that currently utilize petrochemicals. Successful further development of this renewable polymer technology has the potential to reduce societies' dependence of fossil resources, while also reducing environmental issues associated with petrochemical-based materials.