Waterborne nitrocellulose dispersion modified with castor oil (CWNC) was designed and successfully synthesized by self emulsification and reaction among isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) trimer, dimethylol propionic acid (DMPA), nitrocellulose (NC) and castor oil (C.O.). The CWNC was characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), etc. The particle size of CWNC increased with the increase of mass fraction of castor oil to total reactants, omega (C.O.). The morphology of particles is an approximate core-shell structure indicated by TEM. FTIR confirmed that the reactions (i.e. IPDI trimer and castor oil, IPDI trimer and NC) occurred, the NCO groups of IPDI trimer were consumed totally and the backbone of NC was retained. The water contact angle measurements confirmed that introduced castor oil increased hydrophobicity of the film, thereby increasing the contact angle. TGA revealed that the CWNC film had better thermal resistance. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.