Hempoxies 20 Proposal

Bio-based epoxy resins are limited by high melt viscosity (η∗> 50 Pa s at 25 ◦C) [3, 61] and insufficient mechanical performance (tensile strength < 60 MPa), restricting their adoption in structural composites [3, 18]. This work proposes and experimentally validates Hempoxies 20, a fully bio-derived epoxy vitrimer based on epoxidized hempseed oil (EHSO), furfuryl glycidyl ether (FGE) as a reactive diluent, and succinic-anhydride-modified kraft lignin (Su-Lignin) as a multifunctional biobased hardener [72]. Dynamic transesterification is catalyzed by zinc acetate [21]. We hypothesize that incorporation of FGE will reduce matrix viscosity to η∗ < 5 Pas, enabling uniform dispersion of hierarchical carbon reinforcement (hemp-derived carbon fiber, biochar, and carbon nanosheets) [28, 52, 57], while preserving crosslink density and vitrimer behavior. The resulting composite is expected to achieve tensile strength σt >100 MPa, glass transition temperature Tg > 120 ◦C, topology freezing temperature 40 < Tv < 80 ◦C [29, 49], and thermal self-healing efficiency ηheal > 85% [71]. This study constitutes the first reported fully hemp-derived vitrimer composite system and establishes processing–structure–property relationships for recyclable, structural-grade biocomposites.