UV curing of nanoparticle reinforced acrylates

To improve the surface hardness of radiation cured acrylate coatings, both silica nanoparticles and alumina particles with a few microns in size have been embedded into acrylate formulations. Regular mixing of nanoparticles into acrylate formulations, however, leads to highly viscous solutions inappropriate for coating procedures. The incompatibility of inorganic fillers and organic polymers can be avoided by surface modification of nanoparticles using trialkoxysilanes, which provide an interface between the two dissimilar materials. Nanoparticles modified by methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MEMO) and vinyltrimethoxysilane (VTMO), both having polymerisation-active groups, may be crosslinked with the acrylate resin. UV curing of the nanocomposites revealed an unexpected lower reactivity of the vinyl groups of VTMO modified silica compared to MEMO grafted on silica. For VTMO modification, DFT calculations showed a decrease of Mulliken atomic charge for the olefinic carbons pointing to a lower reactivity. For UV cured nano/microhybrid composites, a significant improvement of abrasion resistance was obtained.