Development of New Polymers from Thevetia peruviana Oil
Three novel bio-polymers were synthesized by cationic polymerization of Thevetia peruviana seed oil with styrene and divinylbenzene using modified boron trifluoride etherate as initiator. The cured thermosets ranging from soft to hard, were found to contain between 74.8 to 85.5 % cross linked materials with crosslink densities ranging from 1.33 x 103 to 1.84 x 103 mol/m3. The ultimate tensile strength of the materials varied from 0.52 to 0.55 Mpa, the young moduli is between 38.4 to 53.9 Mpa, the elongation at break varied from 55 to 64 %, the density of the polymers ranged between 0.850 to 0.866 gcm-3, the impact strength is between 2.31 to 2.81 J, while hardness ranged between 3.40 to 3.90 BHN. Overall, the newly synthesized materials from Thevetia peruviana oil have many potentials as new polymeric materials.