Photoinitiated crosslinking polymerization of monomer blends

摘要

The photoinitiate polymerization of multifunctional monomers is one of the most effective methods for producing rapidly tridimensional polymer networks and transform quasi-instantly a liquid resin into a solid and insoluble materials. In most of today's applications of this UV-curing technology a single type of monomers and telechelic oligomers is being used, mainly acrylate or epoxides which undergo polymerization by a radical or cationic mechanism, respectively. For some particular applications, the photopolymerization of monomer blends may provide some additional advantages, as it is an easy way to produce interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) or crosslinked copolymers which may combine the properties of the two homopolymer networks. In the case of IPNs, photoinitiation is a unique method to generate separately each polymer network in a sequential timing.