Ultra-High Through-Cure of (Meth)Acrylate Copolymers via Photofrontal Polymerization
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Department of Polymer Engineering and Science, Chair in Chemistry of Polymeric Materials, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, 8700 Leoben, Austria
2
Department of Polymer Engineering and Science, Chair of Injection Moulding of Polymers, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, 8700 Leoben, Austria
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Polymers 2020, 12(6), 1291; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061291
Received: 14 May 2020
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Revised: 29 May 2020
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Accepted: 1 June 2020
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Published: 4 June 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photopolymers)
Photopolymerization offers substantial advantages in terms of time, temperature, energy consumption, and spatial control of the initiation. The application however is strongly limited due to the constrained penetration of light into thick films. Strategies to overcome the problem of limited curing depth, as well as to improve the curing of shadow areas, involve dual curing, frontal polymerization, and upconversion of particles. Whereas excellent results have been accomplished applying photofrontal polymerization on a theoretical level, few studies report on practical applications achieving high curing depth within short time. This study aims to investigate the potential of photofrontal polymerization, performed only with photoinitiator and light, for the fast and easy production of several-centimeter-thick (meth)acrylic layers. Monomer/ initiator systems were evaluated with respect to their optical density as well as photobleaching behavior. Moreover, depth-dependent polymerization was studied in specimens of varying monomer ratio and photoinitiator concentration. When an ideal photoinitiator concentration was selected, curing up to 52 mm in depth was accomplished within minutes.
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Keywords:
photofrontal polymerization; photopolymerization; ultra-high through-cure; photobleaching; (meth)acrylate; macromonomers; TPO-L; type I photoinitiator
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MDPI and ACS Style
Ebner, C.; Mitterer, J.; Eigruber, P.; Stieger, S.; Riess, G.; Kern, W. Ultra-High Through-Cure of (Meth)Acrylate Copolymers via Photofrontal Polymerization. Polymers 2020, 12, 1291. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061291
AMA Style
Ebner C, Mitterer J, Eigruber P, Stieger S, Riess G, Kern W. Ultra-High Through-Cure of (Meth)Acrylate Copolymers via Photofrontal Polymerization. Polymers. 2020; 12(6):1291. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061291
Chicago/Turabian StyleEbner, Catharina, Julia Mitterer, Paul Eigruber, Sebastian Stieger, Gisbert Riess, and Wolfgang Kern. 2020. "Ultra-High Through-Cure of (Meth)Acrylate Copolymers via Photofrontal Polymerization" Polymers 12, no. 6: 1291. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12061291
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