Structural Characterization of Sandbox Seed Oil-Modified Alkyd Resin

Aim: To synthesize alkyd resin from sandbox seed oil and characterize the alkyd based on the physicochemical and structural properties.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Polymer and Textile Engineering, and Department of Soil Science Technology, both at Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo state, Nigeria, from July 2014 to October 2014.

Methodology: Sandbox seed were properly dried, ground and sieved through a 2 mm mesh size sieve to obtain a fine powder. The seed oil was extracted by bulk cold extraction method using n-hexane, and the oil was characterized to determine the density, acid value, peroxide value, saponification value, iodine value and free fatty acid value. The oil was later converted to alkyd resin through a two stage process of alcoholysis and esterification. FTIR spectroscopy was used to analyze the functional groups present in the alkyd resin and compared with a commercial alkyd resin.

Results: The results on physicochemical analysis showed a high acid value of 149.066 when compared with other seed oils, a weight percentage fatty acid content of 74.931% confirmed it as long oil since it is greater than 55%. The resulting alkyd resin was characterized to determine its viscosity and the FTIR spectra. The results of FTIR give an absorption band at wavelength above 3000 cm-1 which confirm the material as organic compound. The FTIR analysis shows a similarity with the FTIR result of a commercially available alkyd resin, it indicates similar functional group and chemical structure. Therefore considering the results above, alkyd resin from the sandbox tree is suitable as a binder in coating industry.