Study of Tris-trimethylsilypropylcontaining Methacrylate Copolymers for Fouling Release Coating Applications

Abstract

One environmentally friendly approach for the fouling release coating is to create coating surfaces that can resist colonization by fouling organisms or minimize adhesion between marine organisms and material surfaces, leading to easy removal of biofoulants. In this paper a series of tris(trimethylsiloxy)silyl (M3T) containing methacrylate copolymers with low surface energy were synthesized for fouling release coating application. The surface and mechanical properties of copolymer coatings were characterized. The amount of curing group TMOSPMA and hard component PMA has an effect on the surface and mechanical properties; more curing group and more hard component resulted in better mechanical property. The three component copolymer (M3T-co-PMA-co-TMOSPMA) with a molar ratio of 2/8/3 was shown to be a formulation that formed hydrophobic coating with good mechanical properties with respect to B hardness. More studies are still needed to meet the requirements for commercial fouling release coatings.