Synthesis and Kinetics Study of UV Curable Epoxy Acrylate Resin
Advancing the chemical engineering fundamentals
Polymer Science & Engineering - I (T2-12a)
Keywords: Epoxy acrylate, UV curing, Kinetics, Triethylamine
In the recent years, the use of UV curable coatings has considerably increased. The VOC (volatile organic compounds) of this type of coating is very low (almost zero) and it consumes relatively a low energy for curing. Therefore, this coating system considered as one of the cleanest and environment friendly coating systems. Having both good properties of epoxy and acrylic resins, epoxy acrylates are among the most frequently used resins in UV curing systems. They have been used in different applications such as electrical circuit boards, furniture and printing inks.
In this research, an epoxy acrylate resin was synthesized using a bisphenol-A epoxy (EEW=190) and acrylic acid. The reactions were carried out in the presence of triethylamine as catalyst and in the temperature range of 60-90 oC. For kinetics study, an equimolar quantities of epoxide and carboxyl groups was used. In addition, to determine the order of reaction with respect to each component, the excess method was applied.
The results showed that the reaction followed a first-order kinetics under the reaction conditions. The results obtained in the excess method also revealed that the reaction was first- and zero-order with respect to acrylic acid and epoxy, respectively. The activation energy of the reaction was found to be 45-48 kJ mol-1 and the frequency factor was calculated to be about 1.1x105 min-1. FTIR analysis was used to identify the formation of epoxy acrylate resin.
Finally, the synthesized epoxy acrylate resin in combination with trimethylol propane triacrylate (TMPTA), tripropane glycol diacrylate (TPGDA) and 1, 6 hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA) was used in a coating formulation and the physical and mechanical properties of the coating (including Tg, gloss, abrasion resistance, acid and base resistance and mar resistance) was evaluated.
Presented Tuesday 18, 11:40 to 12:00, in session Polymer Science & Engineering - I (T2-12a).
