Study on the preparation of waterborne UV-curable polyurethane acrylate

Abstract

The preparation of waterborne UV-curable urethane acrylate was studied in this paper. The synthetic urethane acrylate could be used in water-based UV-curable inkjet printing as an ink binder. The waterborne UV-curable anionic polyurethane acrylate was prepared by self-emulsifying process. Isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI), polyethylene glycol, dimethylol propionic acid (DMPA), and pentaerythritol triacrylate (PETA) were selected as main raw materials in the experiment. Some influence factors on the properties of the waterborne polyurethane acrylate emulsion were studied, such as the mole ratio of –NCO/–OH, the mass fractions of DMPA, and the degree of neutralization. The results indicated that when the mole ratio of –NCO/–OH was 2.8:1, the mass fraction of DMPA was 3.5%, the degree of neutralization was 100%, and the solids of waterborne polyurethane acrylate emulsion could be obtained up to 45%. The viscosity was 30 mPa·s, and the average size of the particle was 50 nm.