OBJECTIVE:

The objective of the experiment was to prepare the alkyd resin.

Introduction: Alkyds are essentially short-branched polyesters formed by polycondensation

of a dibasic acid and a polyhydric alcohol in the presence of the glycerides oil or oil derived fatty
acids. The presence of the oil facilitates good pigment wetting properties and, when unsaturated,
allows coherent films to be formed on cure but properties like hardness, durability color and gloss
retention are adversely affected. Alkyds are relatively inexpensive in terms of raw materials and
manufacturing costs. Alkyd resins are easy to pigment and are compatible with most substance
used in surface coating industries and have they can be easily modified for special application.
Other polymers may offer better properties in some specific area of application but alkyds have
widest range of acceptable properties in terms of surface coating along with cost and versatility.

Theory: Alkyd resins form the largest group of the synthetic resins available to the paint
industries and consumption is greater than that of the any other resin for wide variety of application
due to their low cost and versatility. Alkyds are formed by polycondensation of a dibasic acid and
a fatty acid and in a strict manner alkyds can be defined as oil modified polyester resin. Most
commonly used dibasic acid in alkyd synthesis is Phthalic anhydride while glycerols,
Pentaerythritol, trimethylol propane, glycols etc. are used as fatty acid determines the dyeing
characteristics of the alkyd resin. The reaction can be represented as follows:
APPARATUS:
 Bolt head flask
 Reflux condenser
 Thermometer
 Beaker
 Heating mantle burner

CHEMICALS:
 Phtalic anhydride
 Glycerol

PROCEDURE:

• small amount of Phtalic anhydride and glycerol were mixed in a bolt

head flask.
MIXING

• The mixture were heated in a reflux condenser with a heating menthol

• Heating was inceased ans decreased until the mixture clouded and
HEATING separated into two layers

• The obtained product were cooled by cold water and poured into a
beaker to solidify the resin
COOLING

RESULT:
Qualitative Analysis:
Name color Physical state odor
Phthalic white powder mild
anhydride
Glycerol Colorless Liquid mild
Alkyd resin Dark brown liquid sweet

Quantitative Analysis: Mixing of 4.4gm Phtalic anhydride, 4.9ml glycerol produced around 9gm
resin
INITIAL INTERMIDIATE

FINAL
DISCUSSION:
Preparation of alkyd resin was a step polymerization reaction which was a very slow reaction with
rapid monomer consumption so the whole process required a lot of time. However, Uniform
heating and cooling of the mixture by reflux condenser in heating menthol was the important part
of the experiment. But it was very tough to maintain the uniform heating which might dissemble
the whole reaction. Again the chemicals that we used for the experiment was not 100% pure which
also affected the experiment significantly.

Reference: Introduction to polymers by R.J.YOUNG and P.A LOVELL.