Dispersion Photopolymerization of AcrylatedOligomers Using a Flexible Continuous Reactor

摘要

The photopolymerization of acrylated oligomers dispersed in an aqueous medium is successfullydemonstrated using a simple continuous photoreactor designed with fl exible tubing,which presents straightforward up-scaling and maintenance features. The performance of thecontinuous photoreactor is assessed by varying the length of the tube exposed to ultravioletlight as well as the fl ow rate of the aqueous dispersion thr ough the reactor. The insolublenature of the dispersed particles after in-situ photo-crosslinking is particularly suitable forthe estimation of the actual number of polymerized particles from static and dynamic lightscattering data. The procedure is discussed in detail. Alongwith the overall acrylate double bond conversion of the particlesdetermined by infrared spectroscopy, an estimation ofthe average conversion per polymerized particle is providedas a function of the exposure time to ultraviolet light. Thesub-microscopic characterization by peak-force tappingatomic force microscopy of the particles after photopolymerizationis also presented.