Synthesis and Performance Evaluation of Degradable Sorbitol-derived Epoxy Resins

The introduction of dynamic covalent bonds into the structure of epoxy resins can improve the degradation performance of the materials. But to a certain extent, it will affect the insulating properties of the resin, and how to balance the insulating properties and degradation performance has become an urgent problem. In this paper, the effects of different catalysts on the thermal-force-electrical properties of sorbitol-based resins were systematically investigated based on the dynamic ester bonding to construct the resin crosslinking network, and the biobased sorbitol glycidyl ether was used as the resin matrix. The experiments show that the resin system catalyzed by triethanolamine (TEOA) exhibits excellent comprehensive performance, which combines good thermal stability and mechanical properties with excellent electrical properties (breakdown field strength of 44.21 kV/mm and dielectric loss factor of 0.29%). In addition, chemical degradation tests were conducted on the resin systems with different catalysts, and the experiments showed that the produced resins could be degraded in benzyl alcohol and exhibited good degradation performance. This study provides a theoretical basis and technical path for the development of new bio-based electrical insulating materials with both high insulation and degradation properties, which is conducive to the popularization and application of bio-based resins in the field of electrical equipment.