Soybean protein isolate instead of petrochemicals
During a recently conducted study, researchers have achieved highly efficient self-initiated UV curing of water-based coatings. They used soybean protein isolate as co-initiator instead of petrochemicals.
Using the seed emulsion polymerisation method, photoinitiator 4-hydroxybenzophenone (HBP) and co-initiator soy protein isolate (SPI) were simultaneously grafted onto a polyacrylate molecular chain, and an innovative UV-curable waterborne polyacrylate resin based on biomass SPI-HBP macromolecular photoinitiator system was prepared, which can be rapidly self-initiated. It was successfully developed into a type of waterborne coatings with excellent mechanical properties for woodware.
UV-curable wood coatings
Test results showed that the PA-SPI-HBP composite emulsion showed good UV absorption performance. With an increase in HBP content, the UV curing time of the coating was shortened from 10.68 s to 5.18 s. When the addition of HBP was increased from 0 % to 4 %, the tensile strength of the films increased from 1.85 MPa to 16.39 MPa, the tensile modulus of elasticity increased from 2.88 MPa to 374.81 MPa, and the elongation at break decreased from 559.03 % to 38.46 %. According to the researchers, their study provides a new method for the preparation of biomass-derived macromolecular photoinitiators and highly efficient self-initiating UV-curable wood coatings.
The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 174, January 2023.
