Fabrication of green composites based on rice bran oil and anhydride cross-linkers

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Petroleum-based composite materials have limitations in terms of environmental issues, and hence, research works have been going on to replace them with green composite materials. To the best of our knowledge, the synthesis of green oil as resin component and jute as reinforcement material in composites has never been explored. In the present study, epoxidized rice bran oil (ERBO) and acrylated epoxidized rice bran oil (AERBO) were used as toughening agent after blending with a diluter or copolymer, viz. polystyrene (PS) and anhydrides, i.e., maleic anhydride (MA) and phthalic anhydride (PA) as additional cross-linking agents to fabricate jute nonwoven-based composites. It was found that with the increase in copolymer content, there was an improvement in mechanical properties. But in the case of biodegradability test, the presence of additional cross-linkers showed less amount of weight loss due to the formation of compact structure. AERBO curing was optimized by varying the curing time and was characterized by FTIR, gel content and viscoelastic properties. Maximum tensile strength of 35.98 MPa was obtained with 50 wt% nonwoven jute. The composites showed improved thermal stability with anhydrides. Chemical resistance showed less deterioration with anhydrides. DMA analysis also showed an increase in storage and loss modulus with anhydrides and reduction in tanδ peak with its broadening. SEM micrographs showed good adhesion and cross-linking when anhydrides were used. These green composites have good potential to replace a large number of petroleum-based alternatives due to their inherent biodegradability and strength and can be used in automotive, constructions, water tanks and so on.