Thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy acrylate/methacrylates UV cured coatings

Stringent environmental regulation has endowed high solids epoxy acrylate with excellent property profile in their industrial applications. One of the most promising fields of applications of epoxy resin in coating technologies is UV-curable coatings. In the present paper epoxy acrylates\methacrylates were prepared by reacting epoxy novolac or bisphenol-A epoxy resin with acrylic acid or metbacrylic acid. These resins were cured with various percentages of trimethylol propane triacrylate (TMPTA) by UV curing. The clear coatings were characterized for the thermal, thermo-mechanical, mechanical and tensile properties. The surface properties of the coatings were evaluated through angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AR-XPS). It was observed that formulations with 10% TMPTA showed good results. From the present investigation, it is clear that epoxy acrylate/methacrylate formulations with radiation curing not only satisfy the eco-friendly nature, but also performed well in their properties. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.