Castor Oil and Acrylate based Copolymers as Greener Additives for Lubricating Oil

Abstract

In this work, the authors synthesized three different acrylates by esterification reaction of acrylic acid with long chain alcohols (octyl alcohol, decyl alcohol and dodecyl alcohol). Homopolymer of castor oil (CO) and three copolymers of castor oil with acrylates were synthesized by free radical polymerization using azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator. FT-IR and NMR spectral technique were used to characterize the synthesized polymers. The average molecular weight was determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) method was used study the thermal behaviour of the polymers at high temperature. Performances of the polymers as additives in lubricating oil were carefully assessed in terms of viscosity index, and pour point. The experimental results showed that the prepared copolymers are better additives than homopolymer. Disc diffusion method was applied to carry out biodegradability test of all the prepared polymers.