A Novel Method to Control UV Curable Microcapsule Release Behavior

Abstract

A new family of core/shell microcapsules containing photopolymerizable tripropylene glycol diacrylate (TPGDA) was synthesized by using interfacial polymerization. The chemical structure and properties of microcapsule was characterized by using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy. The particles size and morphology of the microcapsules were studied by using scanning electron microscope. The thermal properties of microcapsules with various UV curing time were investigated by using differential scanning calorimetry. The controlled releasing behavior of the microcapsules with various UV curing time in organic solvent was studied. Effects of core/shell ratio and agitation rate on average particle size, size distribution and shell thickness of microcapsules were investigated. The higher agitation rate results a smaller particle size with a narrow size distribution. The rate of polymerization of TPGDA in core of microcapsules increases with decreasing particle size and the shell thickness. A higher photoinitiator concentration also increases the photopolymerization rate of the core material. The experiments of controlled releasing behavior showed that the release rate of functional components such as dye in the core can be controlled by changing the crosslink density of network formed from TPGDA.