Coating characteristics of electron beam cured Bisphenol A diglycidyl ether diacrylate-co-aliphatic urethane diacrylate resins

Electron beam (EB) was used to cure coatings of Bisphenol A diglycidyl ether diacrylate (BDGDA) containing varying proportions of aliphatic urethane diacrylate (AUA). The cured BDGDA-co-AUA polymer coatings were characterized by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), gel fraction and swelling estimation techniques. FTIR study showed that the coating formulations were completely cured at a dose of 420 kGy. The effect of AUA on the end use performance properties of BDGDA coating namely, abrasion resistance, specular gloss at 60° angle, tubular impact resistance, pencil hardness, pendulum hardness, scratch resistance, mar resistance, stain resistance, steam resistance and cigarette burn resistance was also investigated. It was observed that incorporation of urethane acrylate oligomer in the epoxy acrylate formulation improved abrasion resistance, gloss and impact resistance. However, scratch resistance, mar resistance and hardness of the BDGDA coatings decreased due to incorporation of AUA. All coating formulations exhibited excellent stains and steam resistance properties, but showed poor cigarette burn resistance.