Biodegradable foam plastics based on castor oil.
In this work, a simple but effective approach was proposed for preparing biodegradable plastic foams with a high content of castor oil. First of all, castor oil reacted with maleic anhydride to produce maleated castor oil (MACO) without the aid of any catalyst. Then plastic foams were synthesized through free radical initiated copolymerization between MACO and diluent monomer styrene. With changes in MACO/St ratio and species of curing initiator, mechanical properties of MACO foams can be easily adjusted. In this way, biofoams with comparable compressive stress at 25% strain as commercial polyurethane (PU) foams were prepared, while the content of castor oil can be as high as 61 wt %. The soil burial tests further proved that the castor oil based foams kept the biodegradability of renewable resources despite the fact that some petrol-based components were introduced.
Wang
Hong Juan
HJ
Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite and Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, OFCM Institute, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.
Rong
Min Zhi
MZ
Zhang
Ming Qiu
MQ
Hu
Jing
J
Chen
Hui Wen
HW
Czigány
Tibor
T
D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002368:Castor Oil / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D010969:Plastics / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
D010969:Plastics; D011137:Polystyrenes; D002368:Castor Oil; C024075:styrofoam