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Bio-based polybenzoxazines with dynamic bonds combine stability and recyclability
New research into polybenzoxazine resins demonstrates how bio-based monomers and dynamic bonds can reconcile thermal stability with recyclability.
Polybenzoxazines are well established in aerospace and electronics due to their excellent thermal and mechanical performance. However, their use of petroleum-derived precursors and permanently crosslinked networks limits recycling options and raises environmental concerns.
A research team has now proposed a concept that addresses these challenges by combining bio-based monomers with dynamic dihydrazone bonds. Dihydrazone-containing bisphenol monomers were synthesised from bio-vanillin and hydrazine hydrate, and subsequently polymerised with furfurylamine.
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High thermal resistance with targeted degradation
The resulting resin exhibited a char yield of 59.5 % at 800 °C, on par with petroleum-based analogues. At the same time, the dynamic network enabled targeted degradation under different conditions: elevated temperature, acetone–water mixtures (2:8 v/v), and 0.1 M HCl at 50 °C.
In carbon fibre composites, 96 % of the original fibre strength (2.64 vs 2.75 GPa) was retained after 24 hours of resin decomposition, with minimal surface damage. This provides a promising pathway towards sustainable and recyclable high-performance thermosetting composites.
Source: Polymer Chemistry, Issue 29, 2025
