Role of epoxidized vegetable oils as reactive diluents in high solids alkyd and epoxy coatings

The objective of this research was to study the effect of incorporation of epoxidized vegetable oils (EVO) as reactive diluent on the performance properties of high solids epoxy and alkyd coatings.;Vernonia oil was introduced in trade sale alkyd and epoxy formulations to reduce volatile organic content (VOC). Currently drawbacks of vernonia technology are the limited availability of the oil and its high price. We therefore studied the effect of partially and fully epoxidized soybean and linseed oil as well as of blends of epoxidized soybean and tung oil on some epoxy and alkyd high solids coatings.;These epoxidized vegetable oils help to reduce application viscosity and dry to touch time in alkyd coatings. In epoxy formulations they were added as reactive diluents, as prepolymers and as advancement co-polymers to commercial liquid epoxy resins. VOC is reduced 10-15%. Coating performance is reasonably good up to 20% oil levels. Oil blend of epoxidized soybean and tung oil reduces VOC and dry to touch time in epoxy and in alkyd coatings.