Manufacturing and impact characterization of soy‐based polyurethane pultruded composites

Composites have several advantages such as high corrosion resistance, high strength to weight ratio, and lower maintenance costs over conventional materials. The major cost drivers for composites are raw materials and manufacturing process. Automated manufacturing processes like pultrusion and low cost raw materials can significantly lower the cost of composites. Polyurethane (PU) resin systems are commonly used in the pultrusion industry as they have higher performance characteristics and manufacturing feasibility when compared to conventional resin systems such as polyester and vinyl ester. Manufacturing cost can be further decreased by the use of bio‐based materials such as soy‐based resin systems. In the present work, solid pultruded panels have been manufactured using the base PU and two soy‐based PU resin systems. Pultruded panels were subjected to low velocity impact testing. Soy‐based PU resin systems showed comparable properties to that of the base PU resin system and is a viable alternative to the conventional petroleum‐based PU. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:1070–1077, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers