Abstract

Vegetable oils readily undergo functionalization to produce monomers suitable for step-growth polymerization. Accordingly, this study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of hydroxylated X. americana seed oil and its right for purpose in separate condensation polymerizations with isophrone diisocyanate (IPDI) and 4, 4’-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) as diisocyanate contents, ethylene diamine (EA) and ethylene glycol (EG) as chain-extenders for preparation of chain-extended polyurethanes at isocyanate index of 1.30 using the prepolymer method. The hydroxyl number (253.12±3.22 mgKOH/g) and functionality (12.21±0.54) for hydroxylated X. americana seed oil are within range for polyols technically required for rigid polyurethane materials. The tensile and flexural properties for the chain-extended polyurethanes in the order IPPU-1.30-EA>MDPU-1.30-EA>IPPU-1.30-EG>MDPU-1.30-EG, is in reverse order for their elongations and consistent with glass transition temperature (144-1610C), polymer volume fraction (0.555- 1.443), molecular weight between crosslinks (826-2874 gmol-1) and crosslinked density (2.96x10-3-7.01x10- 3). The MDI- based extended X. americana polyurethanes, showed greater thermal stability, while the extended aliphatic polyurethanes were less polydispersed. In conclusion, this study showed that hydroxylated X. americana seed oil is a suitable monomer for polyurethane production with properties comparable to those for synthetic step-growth polyurethanes.