One method of reducing styrene emissions from vinyl ester (VE) and unsaturated polyester resins (UPE) is to replace some or all of the styrene with fatty acid-based monomers. Methacrylated fatty acid (MFA) monomers are ideal candidates because they are inexpensive, have low volatilities, and free-radically polymerize with vinyl ester. The viscosity of VE resins using these fatty acid monomers r...

Experimental data are reported on moisture diffusion and the elastoplastic response in uniaxial tensile tests of an intercalated nanocomposite with vinyl ester resin matrix and montmorillonite clay filler at room temperature. Observations in diffusion tests show that the moisture transport in the neat resin is Fickian, whereas it becomes noticeably anomalous (non-Fickian) with the growth of the...

The increased use of fiber-reinforced vinyl ester composites in outdoor applications has led to questions concerning the environmental durability of these materials, particularly as related to UV exposure. In this work, artificial ultra-violet (UV) degradation was carried out on neat vinyl ester matrix specimens using an integrating sphere-based UV exposure chamber. Significant changes were obs...