Study of performance properties of itaconic acid based acrylic-modified polyester for industrial baking finishes

•Synthesis of renewable itaconic acid based unsaturated polyester and graft copolymer of acrylic monomer.•Characterization of grafting of acrylic on polyester by FT-IR spectroscopy.•Study the effect of degree of acrylation of polyester on cross-link density by DMA analysis. Itaconic acid based unsaturated polyesters have been synthesized followed by their co-polymerization with commonly used acrylic monomers. Series of such acrylic-modified polyesters have been prepared and examined their physical and performance characteristics. Apart from determining various physico-chemical characteristics, these resins were also characterized for their molecular weight distribution and grafting of acrylic on polyester using gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and FT-IR techniques respectively. The performance of cured film and the effect on cross-linking density of the synthesized acrylic-modified polyesters were investigated through dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) using melamine formaldehyde resin as a cross-linker at elevated temperature. The resultant polymeric film showed excellent hardness, flexibility, impact resistance, adhesion, and cupping with improved weathering resistance over non-acrylated polyester.