Novel, High-Performance Architectural Roof Coatings from Epoxidized Soybean Oil

In this project, we will develop cost-effective, environmentally benign architectural roof coatings derived from agricultural products. Each year more than 5 billion pounds of material are used for roof coatings leading to the emission of more than 2.5 billion pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Our preliminary studies have shown that cationic photopolymerizations of epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) are especially promising for roofing formulations due to their low volatility, negligible toxicity, good rheological characteristics without the addition of diluting solvents. The broad objective of this research is to establish formulations containing mixtures of ESO and commercially-available epoxide resins which cure in a reasonable period of time when exposed to light to produce coatings with superior properties. The specific objectives of this project are: to identify suitable mixtures of ESO with epoxy co-monomers; to establish the effect of the initiator formulation on the performance of the process; to determine the effect of the initiating light intensity and illumination time on the cure and performance of the coating; to characterize the thermal mechanical and weatherability properties of the resulting films; to evaluate the performance of these ESO-based coatings for roofing applications.