Scientists from Korea have conducted an experiment to test the effects of castor oil/ polycaprolactone hybrid polyols on the properties of biopolyurethane. Organic solvent soluble castor oil/polycaprolactone diol (PCL) based polyurethane was prepared.
The results showed that the tensile properties and shape memory of castor oil/PCL based polyurethane were enhanced when compared with PCL based polyurethane. The enhancement in properties was due to the increased hard segment portion and cross linking density by 3 urethane bonds formed per molecule in the castor oil/PCL mixed system.
This research suggests that castor oil/ PCL based polyurethane could be used as biobased coating materials.