Synthesis of a novel UV-curable prepolymer polypropyleneglycol diglycidyl ether diacrylate

Abstract

A novel UV-curable prepolymer polypropyleneglycol diglycidyl ether diacrylate (PPGGEA) was synthesized by utilizing polypropyleneglycol diglycidyl ether (PPGGE) and acrylic acid (AA) as starting materials, N, N-dimethylbenzylamine as catalyst and p-hydroxyanisole as inhibitor. The optimum synthetic conditions were in the following: the concentration of N, N-dimethylbenzylamine was 0.80 wt% of reactants, the concentration of p-hydroxyanisole was 0.3 wt% of reactants, the reaction temperature was 90–110 °C, and the molar ratio of PPGGE to AA was 1:2.2. Meanwhile, 1-hydroxycyclohexyl phenyl ketone of a UV-cured initiator was added to the synthesized PPGGEA to prepare a kind of UV-cured coating. The mechanical properties of the UV-cured films were determined, giving 29.99 MPa of tensile strength, 834.27 MPa of the Young’s modulus and 5.66% of elongation at tear.