Functionalized Silicones As Reactive Polymers for UV-Curable Compositions

Polymers with attached functional groups can be used in place of low molecular
weight reactants to design reactive systems with improved performances. The paper
illustrates this general approach applied to the particular field of UV-curing of polymerizable
compositions. Siloxane copolymers with controlled functionality and/or controlled molecular
weight were prepared and studied as polymeric photoinitiators or as polymeric reactive
surfactants. The efficiency of the various systems was assessed by comparison to low
molecular weight systems (photoinitiators of free radical polymerization) or to conventional
fluorinated compounds (surfactants for cationically curable compositions). Several
improvements of practical concern have been evidenàed and optimized by controlling the
constitution of the polymeric reactants.