Electron Beam Solid-State Polymerization Of Liquid-Crystalline Acrylate Monomers And Their Mixtures

Introduction

Radiation curable resins often consist of oligomer and/or
their mixtures with monomer having acrylic double bond.1
Investigations and developments for functional oligomers and
monomers having such properties as low viscosity, high
reactivity, low toxicity, and low irritation, were important.

In our previous paper, it was reported that a liquid-
crystalline.acrylate monomer was polymerized in the solid-state
by low-energy electron beam under the same dose, a
liquid-crystalline acrylate monomer had a high conversion from
monomer to polymer compared to a non-liquid-crystalline acrylate
monomer. As a result, it was suggested that a liquid-crystalline
acrylate monomer has a potential to be a new material for
radiation processing.

We have also reported that a non-liquid-crystalline
(meth)acrylate monomer was polymerized in the presence of a nonpolymerizable
liquid-crystalline compound, showing dependence of
polymer yield on content of the compound. 3, 4 A binary mixture
containing a monomer and a liquid-crystalline compound may
increasing the yield of polymer and becomes a new functional
coating materials.