Synthesis, rheological characterization, and constitutive modeling of polyhydroxy triglycerides derived from milkweed oil.

Asclepias syriaca L., the common milkweed, is a new industrial crop. The seed contains about 20-30 wt % of a highly unsaturated oil having unusual fatty acids. Exploring value-added products from the oil, milkweed triglycerides have been oxidized by in situ performic acid to the polyoxirane and polyhydroxy triglycerides (PHTG). The rheological properties of milkweed PHTG were characterized in various shear flows. Milkweed PHTG displayed nonlinear viscoelastic behavior at applied strains greater than 1%. Milkweed PHTG was found to obey time-strain separability. A nonlinear Wagner constitutive model was used successfully to qualitatively predict the behavior of milkweed PHTG in both start-up and cessation of steady-state shear flow.