Interpenetrating polymer networks derived from cardanol based dyes and polyol modified castor oil based polyurethanes

In view of the fast consumption of the petroleum stock and pressing demand for the use of polymeric materials to keep pace with the rate of growth of the world’s population the syntheses of polymers from agricultural products have achieved tremendous momentum at present all over the world. A number of Interpenetrating Polymer Networks were synthesized from polyol modified castor oil polyurethanes and cardanol based dyes. The structural characterization of the such polymers was performed using Fourier transform infrared spectral data. The thermal analysis methods such as Thermogravimetric Analysis, Derivative Thermogravimetry and Differential Thermal Analysis were used to determine their decomposition temperature, temperature of maximum decomposition, relative thermal stability and kinetic constants such as activation energy and order of reaction were calculated using the Freeman-Anderson method. X-ray diffraction analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy were used to probe the morphological changes of the polymers with changes in their compositions. The effects of changes in polyurethane to dye monomer weight ratio on the properties of the polymers were studied at 1.2 and 1.6 NCO/OH ratios. These polymers exhibited very high thermal stability and mechanical strength and are expected to show excellent performance in various applications better than those shown by the co-polymers derived from simple cardanol (cashew phenol).