A bio-based epoxy resin from rosin powder with improved mechanical performance
Gökhan Demircan, Murat Kısa, Mustafa Özen, Abuzer Açıkgöz, Bülent Aktaş, Mehmet Ali Kurt
Abstract
Today, with the increasing sensitivity to environmental issues, bio-based materials are needed as an alternative to traditional materials. Rosin is used for biomaterial production due to its abundance in nature and cheapness. This study aims to produce bio-epoxy using powdered rosin with enhanced mechanical properties. Powdered rosin was used at 1, 3 and 5 wt.% to study the effect of additive ratios. Three different mixing methods were used to make the mixture homogeneous. A magnetic stirrer was used in the first method, an ultrasonic stirrer was used in the second method and both were used in the third method. Bio-epoxy was successfully synthesized, and mechanical properties were examined by tensile, compression, density and hardness tests. As a result, it was determined that the best mixing method was the third mixing method, and the best results in additive ratios were obtained at 1 wt.% for tensile strength (5.63%) and hardness (14.41%) and at 5 wt.% for compression strength (8.28%).