UV curing and matting of acrylate nanocomposite coatings by 172Â nm excimer irradiation

To study the depth profile of acrylate conversion for coatings cured by the combination of a 172 nm excimer lamp (accountable for surface curing) and a mercury arc lamp (responsible for through curing), FTIR microscopy as well as (Ge)ATR-FTIR having an IR penetration depth of less than 0.5 μm have been applied. Providing the presence of a photoinitiator as well as the absence of oxygen inhibition, similar degrees of double bond conversion of about 90% were observed on the entire area of the cross-section of the coating, i.e. the wavelength of UV irradiation was found to have no significant impact on acrylate conversion.