TY - JOUR

T1 - Ultra-High Through-Cure of (Meth) Acrylate Copolymers via Photofrontal Polymerization

AU - Ebner, Catharina

AU - Mitterer, Julia

AU - Eigruber, Paul

AU - Stieger, Sebastian

AU - Rieß, Gisbert

AU - Kern, Wolfgang

PY - 2020/6/1

Y1 - 2020/6/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - (meth)acrylate

KW - Macromonomers

KW - Photobleaching

KW - Photofrontalpolymerization

KW - Photopolymerization

KW - TPO-L

KW - Type I photoinitiator

KW - Ultra-highthrough-cure

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087329567&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/POLYM12061291

DO - 10.3390/POLYM12061291

M3 - Article

VL - 12

JO - Polymers

JF - Polymers

IS - 6

M1 - 1291

ER -