Photocurable Urethane Modified Water-Borne Acrylic Coatings

An acrylic copolymer with pendant hydroxy and carboxyl groups was prepared by using of n-butyl acrylate, styrene, acrylic acid and β-hydroxyethyl methacrylate in butanone, then reacted with the half adduct of tolylene diisocyanate and β-hydroxyethyl methacrylate. The obtained graft copolymer can be neutralized with amine and dispersed stably in water in the form of self-emulsified latexes after removing organic solvent by distillation. The self-emulsified system exhibited thixotropy, the solid content ranged from 75% to 81% with particle size around 200nm. In the presence of photoinitiator Irgacure 2959, the comprehensive properties of the photocured coatings from the self-emulsified system were tested.