Plant Oil-Based Polyester

This chapter provides an overview on new polyester materials from plant oil. In recent years, industrial and academic research teams have been strongly involved in replacing conventional polyesters from petroleum-based material with biodegradable ones. The goal is to design good performance materials that, after use, could be susceptible to microbial and environmental degradation, using adequate solid waste management disposal practices without any adverse environmental impact. It is necessary to develop new routes to enhance the properties of biodegradable polymers. In fact, polyesters are considered the most competitive biodegradable polymers commercialized so far. Unsaturated polyester resins (UPRs) incorporated with plant oil are interesting materials because of their high modulus, strength, durability, and thermal and chemical resistance, which are provided by high cross-linking density.