Open Journal of Organic Polymer Materials, 2015, 5, 1-22
Published Online January 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojopm
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojopm.2015.51001
How to cite this paper: Samarth, N.B. and Mahanwar, P.A. (2015) Modified Vegetable Oil Based Additives as a Future Po-
lymeric Material—Review. Open Journal of Organic Polymer Materials, 5, 1-22.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojopm.2015.51001
Modified Vegetable Oil Based Additives as
a Future Polymeric Material—Review
Nikesh B. Samarth, Prakash A. Mahanwar
Department Polymer and Surface Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India
Email: n.b.samarth@gmail.com , pmahanwar@yahoo.com
Received 26 August 2014; revised 19 September 2014; accepted 28 October 2014
Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Polymeric materials from renewable resources have attracted a lot of attention in recent years.
The development and utilization of vegetable oils for polymeric materials are currently in the
spotlight of the polymer and chemical industry, as they are the largest renewable platform due to
their universal wide availability, ingrained biodegradability, low cost, and excellent environmen-
tal aspects (i.e., low ecotoxicity and low toxicity toward humans). These excellent natural charac-
teristics are now being taken advantage of in research and development, with vegetable oil de-
rived polymers/polymeric materials/composites being used in numerous applications including
paints and coatings, adhesives, and nanocomposites. The aim of this review paper is to give a fun-
damental description of the various vegetable oil applications in polymer materials and its recent
developments. Particular emphasis will be placed on study and main application of triglyceride
based additive for polymer and to give the reader an insight into the main developments is dis-
cussed.
Keywords
Vegetable Oil, Additives, Renewable Material, Polymer, Stabilizer, Plasticizer, Lubricant
1. Introduction
Vegetables or plant oils represent a renewable resource that can be used as reliable starting material to access
new products with a wide array of structural and functional variations. The ample availability and the relatively
low cost make plant oils an industrially attractive raw material for the plastics industry.
Already for a long time, plant oils and their derivatives have been used by polymer chemists due to their re-
newable nature, world wide availability at relatively low price, and their wide application possibilities. In recent
year, there has been a large amount of demand for plant oils as an alternative resource for the production of ad-