Mechanical and Thermal Characterizations of Biobased Thermoset Resins from Soybean Oil Reinforced with Natural Fiber Using Vacuum Injection Moulding Technique

Abstract: The aim of this research was to analyze the mechanical and thermal properties of composites andhybrid composites prepared with four types of jute fibers and two different resins; biobased thermosetresins acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) and mathacrylated anhydride modified soybean oil(MMSO). The processing technique used was vacuum injection molding (VIM). Tensile and, flexuraltestings and dynamic mechanical and thermal analysis (DMTA) were used to characterize thecomposites’ properties. The results showed that the AESO composites have better tensile and flexuralproperties. This may be due to the fact that the curing conditions were quite the same for both AESOand MMSO composites but MMSO composites showed different behavior during curing step. Theywere completely cured in a shorter time compared to AESO composites. Having equal curing time forboth resins’ composites can damage the structure of MMSO composites and hybrids. Tan delta peak forthe MMSO reinforced composites occurs at higher temperatures, compared to AESO reinforcedcomposites, which means better thermal properties for MMSO reinforced composites.