Sucrose octaesters as reactive diluents for alkyd coatings

Sucrose octasoyate (SS8) was investigated as a reactive diluent for a medium oil alkyd (MOA). SS8, which is derived from sugar and soybean oil, is 100% biobased, nontoxic, and biodegradable. As a result of its unique molecular architecture, it was expected that SS8 would be an excellent reactive diluent for alkyd coatings. The experiment conducted basically involved the incremental replacement of the MOA with SS8, while maintaining essentially equivalent solution viscosity. The properties of cured coatings were determined using industry standard methods. In general, it was found that SS8 could be used to reduce volatile organic compound content of the coatings, while also reducing drying time (i.e., tack-free time), increasing solvent resistance, and increasing impact resistance. Of the properties measured, the only cured film property that was negatively affected by the use of SS8 was the König pendulum hardness. However, the reduction in König pendulum hardness was only observed when the amount of MOA replaced by SS8 was greater than 10 wt%. Overall, these initial results suggest that SS8 is a very good reactive diluent for alkyd coatings.