Development of new polymers from thevetia peruviana oil

Quest for alternative to petroleum based polymeric materials, led to the exploitation of the presence of triglyceride structure in the fatty acid contents of Thevetia Peruviana oil to develop three novel bio-polymers by cationic polymerization of the 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 developed materials from Thevetia peruviana oil have potentials to serve as matrix for bio-composites development.