Hybrid benzoxazines from natural bio-phenolics for enhanced thermal stability and hydrophobicity: a study on vermiculite reinforced composites with low dielectric constant

Two series of unsymmetrical hybrid benzoxazines were separately synthesized using combinations of natural bio-phenolic materials, namely cardanol (C) with eugenol (E), vanillin (V), and guaiacol (G) using diaminodiphenylmethane (ddm)/diaminodiphenyl ether (dde) through the well-known Mannich reaction. The synthesized hybrid benzoxazines have a cure temperature between 229 degrees C and 269 degrees C. Compared to previous synthesized benzoxazines, vanillin-based benzoxazines (C-dde-V and C-ddm-V) have a lower cure temperature. TGA results show that poly(C-ddm-V) and poly(C-dde-V), two hybrid polybenzoxazines, have superior thermal stability than the other hybrid polybenzoxazines. In order to develop polybenzoxazine composites, different wt% of GPTMS functionalized vermiculite was incorporated with poly(C-ddm-V). The properties of these composites were examined and contrasted with those of a neat matrix. The hybrid polybenzoxazines and composites water contact angle values vary from 136 degrees to 144 degrees, suggesting that all of the hybrid polybenzoxazines and composites have good hydrophobic behavior. On increasing the concentration of vermiculite, the dielectric constant value significantly decreased to a low dielectric constant.