Low Viscosity, Fast Curing Epoxy Acrylate Oligomers
Conventional epoxy acrylates based on diglycidyl ether bisphenol A are the most frequently used oligomers in the ultraviolet light (UV) curing industry because they are hard, fast curing, and offer excellent abrasion and chemical resistance. Unfortunately, the inherent hardness of these oligomers has several negative side effects, including yellowing over time, high viscosities and poor adhesion.
Recently, a major specialty chemical manufacturer conducted testing to develop new epoxy acrylate oligomers that offer all of the traditional advantages of using an epoxy acrylate without yellowing. In the testing, a diacrylate low viscosity oligomer (CN-132) and a triacrylate low viscosity oligomer (CN-133) were compared to a difunctional bisphenol A-based epoxy acrylate (CN-120). A variety of performance properties were evaluated to determine the utility of these oligomers as replacements for typical epoxy acrylates in wood coating applications.