Sustainable and recyclable super engineering thermoplastic from biorenewable monomer.

ABSTRACT: Environmental and health concerns force the search for sustainable super engineering plastics (SEPs) that utilise bio-derived cyclic monomers, e.g. isosorbide instead of restricted petrochemicals. However, previously reported bio-derived thermosets or thermoplastics rarely offer thermal/mechanical properties, scalability, or recycling that match those of petrochemical SEPs. Here we use a phase transfer catalyst to synthesise an isosorbide-based polymer with a high molecular weight >100 kg mol^-1, which is reproducible at a 1-kg-scale production. It is transparent and solvent/melt-processible for recycling, with a glass transition temperature of 212 °C, a tensile strength of 78 MPa, and a thermal expansion coefficient of 23.8 ppm K^-1. Such a performance combination has

SUBMITTER: Park SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6565616 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature