Acrylated vegetable oils as photocrosslinkable materials

Acrylated soybean oil was irradiated in the near UV in the presence of free radical photoinitiators. Given the high substitution density of acrylic moieties, these oils responded very rapidly to the photopolymerization giving high yields of crosslinked materials within a few seconds. The activity of three photoinitiators was compared and the ensuing networks were characterized in terms of crosslink density through swelling measurements. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.