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One of the major pollutants emittedby a surface coating is organic solvent used during processing andapplication. Hence, efforts have been made to develop alternativetechnologies that minimize the use of organic solvents in surfacecoatings. These include the use of coating curing agents derived fromvegetable oils, which have been directly used to obtain coating films.Since these oils, by themselves, cannot directly meet the desired filmproperties, a number of oil modifications have been proposed such asalkyd, epoxy, polyesteramide, polyurethanes, polyurethaneamide, etc.The polyesteramide resins hold considerable application scope in thecoatings field. A number of polyesteramides have been developed fromdifferent oils e.g., dehydrated castor oil, pilu fat, argemone,linseed, etc. The presence of repeating units of ester (-COOR) andamide (-NCOR) in the polymeric chain of polyesteramide (PEA) improvesthe ease of application, thermal stability, chemical and waterresistance, and causes faster drying and enhanced hardness over normalalkyds. These polyesteramides have shorter curing times at elevatedtemperature, while considerably longer times at room temperature.
Copolymer Code | Monomer(mol) | Number Average Molecular weight(Mn) | Weight Average Molecular weight (Mw) | Poly Dispersity Index (PDI) | Acid Value | A | 1 | 1 | 8297 | 19210 | 345 |
| In the present study, an acid-functional acrylic copolymer has beensynthesized using butyl methacrylate and maleic anhydride. In addition,the hydroxyl ethyl fatty amide of castor oil has also been synthesizedand used as a curing agent for the acid-functional acrylic copolymer toform polyesteramide resins. The effect of crosslinking agent on theacrylic copolymers was examined. A series of coating compositions withvarying amounts of acrylic copolymer and hydroxyl ethyl fatty amidewere prepared, and their mechanical, optical and chemical resistanceproperties studied.
Experimental
Reagents
Castor oil was procured from a commercial manufacturer. Maleicanhydride, butyl methacrylate (BMA), diethanolamine, zinc oxide,methanol, xylene, acetone, and potassium hydroxide were of LR grade.
Synthesis of Acrylic Copolymer
The copolymer was synthesized by dissolving maleic anhydride (1 mol) in 100 ml of xylene in a 3-neck flask with inlet for N2gas, reflux condenser and mechanical stirrer. BMA (exactly 1 mol)containing 1.4 gm of benzoyl peroxide was added drop wise at a constantrate into the flask over the period of 2 hours keeping the temperatureconstant at 95 °C. The reaction mass was stirred for another 2 hours tocomplete the reaction. The resulting copolymer was diluted with acetoneand precipitated with methanol with constant stirring. Table 1 showsthe characteristics of the acrylic copolymer.
Synthesis of Hydroxyethyl Fatty Amide (HEFA)
The oil (0.1 mol) was placed in a multi-necked flask equipped withstirrer, thermometer and condenser, and heated to 150 °C with thediethanolamine (0.34) and zinc oxide (0.002). The temperature wasraised to 200 °C and maintained at ± 200 °C until it gave a methanolsolubility test. Samples were periodically withdrawn and mixed with twovolumes of methanol at room temperature; the disappearance of turbidityshowed the completion of the reaction. The formation of hydroxy ethylfatty amide was further confirmed by a TLC method. After reactioncompletion the product was dissolved in diethyl ether, washed with 15%NaCl solution and dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate. The etherealsolution was filtered and evaporated in a vacuum evaporator to obtainthe light-colored hyroxy ethyl fatty amide of dehydrated castor oil.Table 2 shows the physico-chemical properties of hydroxyl ethyl fattyamide of castor oil.
Properties | Hydroxyethyl Fatty Amide (HEFA) | Acid value | 4.00 | Iodine value | 80.00 | Viscosity at 25 °C | 5.00 | Specific gravity | 0.95 | Refractive Index | 1.4770 | [tr=#f4f8ff][/tr] Table 2: Properties of hydroxyl ethyl fatty amide (HEFA) |
Measurements
Infraredspectra of the synthesized co-polymer were recorded using aPerkin-Elmer 1750 FT-IR spectrophotometer. Molecular weight wasdetermined by GPC (model HPLC 600, RI detector with two ultra styragelcolumns); polystyrene was used as a standard, and THF as eluent. ForDSC analysis, a universal V4.2E TA instruments Q20 differentialscanning calorimeter was used. The temperature range was kept as 20-200°C at the rate of 20 °C/min. The analysis was carried out in an argonatmosphere at the rate of 40 ml/min. The thermal stability of the resinwas measured by using a universal V4.2E TA instruments Q50thermogravimetric analyzer under dynamic scans from 0-600 °C at therate of 20 °C/min under nitrogen flow at the rate of 30 ml/min.Viscosity of the fatty amide was determined by Brookfield cone andplate 2000 + viscometer, at 25 °C.
Coating Sample Preparation
Coatingcompositions with varying ratios of acrylic copolymer and HEFA wereprepared using xylene/acetone (95/5% v/v) as a solvent. All thecompositions were thinned with the above mixture to 50% weight ofnonvolatile matter. The sample designations are given in Table 3.Coating films were prepared by applying the various coatingformulations on mild steel panels using a bar applicator. Film drythickness was maintained at 40 ± 5 microns and cured for the evaluationof various mechanical and chemical resistance properties.
Sample Code | EOPA | HDDA | TMPTA | PE-1 | A | HEFA | 1:0.3 | PE-2 | A | HEFA | 1:0.5 | PE-3 | A | HEFA | 1:0.7 | PE-4 | A | HEFA | 1:1 |
| Table 3: Formulation of coating samples |
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