CO2 fixation reaction as a novel method for Toughening of epoxy resin

Toughening of two functional epoxy resin using CO2 fixation reaction through new mechanism was carried out. CO2 fixed modified epoxy at different amounts of carbonation content were synthesized. Increasing in carbonate content lead to improvement of toughness in term of critical stress intensity factor (KIC) obtained from fracture toughness test. Improvement followed three reasons: I) cross-link resin reduction, II) uncured carbonate groups and, III) urethane bond formation. As a green technology, toughening by CO2, a greenhouse gas has a potential for producing high performance polymers with economic benefits