Characteristics of photocurable acrylic resins for use in wood industry

Abstract

The UV light cured polymeric materials, based on acrylic monomers, constitute a wide group of products with a complex chemical structure. The resins obtained from three leading manufacturers of polymeric materials used in wood industry: AkzoNobel, Klumpp and KnehoLacke were investigated. The chemical structure of the resins was characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR). The obtained spectra revealed the presence of absorption bands which are characteristic for the structure of acrylates as well as epoxides. The analysis of microstructure indicated the presence of significant amounts of fillers in the structure of tested resins. Our study showed that the AkzoNobel resin, characterized by the lowest viscosity, thermal stability, adhesion properties and hardness, contained the most amount of filler particles. The Klumpp resin was least susceptible to changes in the crosslinking conditions and showed the best adhesive properties. It was found, that the chemical structure influences the thermal and mechanical properties of the resins to a larger extent than the filler content.