Abstract:The development of sustainable bio-based epoxy resins with better overall performance than existing petroleum-based epoxy resins is essential to reduce energy pressure and enrich the categories of high-performance epoxy resins. A bio-based epoxy resin DGEH was prepared by a simple one-step reaction with a natural compound honokiol. The rigid biphenyl structure and flexible allyl groups in honokiol can afford excellent comprehensive performance to the resulting resins. The experimental results show that the intrinsic viscosity of DGEH at 25 ℃ is only 0.088 Pa·s, which is significantly lower than 8.388 Pa·s of petroleum-based bisphenol A epoxy resin E51. Moreover, with 4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane (DDM) and 4,4'-diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS) as curing agent, the DGEH system exhibits a wider processing window than E51. Under the optimal curing conditions, the glass transition temperature, char yield at 800 ℃ in N2 atmosphere and flexural modulus of DGEH/DDS are 261 ℃, 32.3% and 3360 MPa, respectively, which are 27 ℃, 1.4 times and 30% higher than those of E51/DDS system, respectively. In addition, the intrinsic flame retardancy of DGEH/DDS reaches V0, the highest level of UL-94 vertical combustion test, which overcomes the flammability of petroleum-based epoxy resin E51. This paper provides a reference for the design of high performance epoxy resins which can meet the needs of high-tech field.