3.2. Drying properties
3.2.1. FT-IR study
Fig. 3 shows the FT-IR spectra of various high solids alkyd resin compositions. As expected the spectra of all the resins have very high similarity since they have similar polymer backbone. The broadest O H peak (stretch of hydroxyl) in all the spectra was seen at 3500cm−1. The peak around 1700cm−1 is due to C O stretching of ester linkages which are typically present in alkyd system. In the conventional alkyd coating films, the drying occurs due to oxidative curing. It is well known that the drying process includes oxidation of fatty acids, hydroperoxide decomposition and crosslinking between fatty acid chains [21]. Oxidation starts with a hydrogen abstraction on the methylene group activated by two double bonds in linolenic or linoleic acid chain of the fatty acids in a complex process of radical polymerization assisted by metal driers [22]. Cross-linking occurs by radical addition with conjugated double bonds or radical recombination with formation of an alkyl (carbon–carbon), ether or peroxy bonds [21,23]. In this study, the drying behavior of high solids alkyd coating films with varying DPE content was studied with time using FT-IR spectroscopy. Fig. 4(a) and (b) illustrate the FT-IR spectra of clear films of ALK 1 (0% DPE) and ALK 6 (60% DPE). Both the spectra showed identical drying behavior up to the first 5 h of time. However, the unsaturation
peak of the fatty acid: cis double bonds at 3008cm−1 disappears after 24 and 48 h (blue curve), indicating the oxidative cure and
cross-linking of the fatty acid chains in the alkyd resin [24].