High Glass Transition Materials from Sustainable Epoxy Resins with Potential Applications in the Aerospace and Space Sectors

High glass transitions, high storage moduli, high thermal stability, and low water absorption values are crucial criteria of high-performant materials, though there is a challenge when we are confronting the bio-resourced materials with their performances. This work proposes the chemical combination of aromatic bio-based epoxy monomers with potential bio-based anhydrides to produce thermosetting materials with competitive performances. Triglycidyl ether of phloroglucinol (TGPh) and diglycidyl ether of vanillyl alcohol (DGEVA) were copolymerized with hexahydro-4-methylphthalic anhydride or methyl nadic anhydride. These copolymerization reactions start at low temperature, from 35 or 70 °C; that is a first advantage for an industrial up-scaling. The produced thermosets have high bio-based carbon content, ∼50–60%, high glass transition values (>100 °C for DGEVA-based resins and >200 °C for TGPh resins), high storage moduli (2.7–3.1 GPa at 30 °C), high thermal stability (T5% = 329–359 °C), and very low water absorption (in average ∼1.5% after 15 days). These performances of these bio-based thermosets open windows of application in space, aerospace, or naval industry.