Preparation and properties of UV‐curable fluorinated polyurethane acrylates

A series of UV‐curable polyurethane acrylates (PUA0, FPUA3, FPUA6, FPUA 9 FPUA12, FPUA15, where the numbers indicate the wt % of perfluoroalkyl acrylate), were prepared from a reactive oligomer [4,4 ́‐dicyclohexymethanediisocyanate(H12MDI)/ poly(tetramethylene glycol)(PTMG)/2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA): 2/1/2 molar ratio, prepolymer:40 wt %] and diluents [methyl methacrylate (MMA, 20 wt %)/ isobornyl acrylate (IBOA, 40–25 wt %)/heptadecafluorodecyl methacrylate (PFA, 0–15 wt), total diluents: 60 wt %]. This study examined the effect of PFA/IBOA weight ratio on the properties of the UV‐curable polyurethane acrylates for antifouling coating materials. The as‐prepared UV‐curable coating material containing a 15 wt % PFA content in diluents (MMA/IBOA/PFA) form a heterogeneous mixture, indicating that a PFA content of approximately 15 wt % was beyond the limit of the dilution capacity of diluents for the oligomer. In the wavelength range of 400–800 nm, the UV‐cured PUA0 film sample was quite transparent (transmittance%: near 100%). On the other hand, the transmittance% of the FPUA film sample decreased markedly with increasing PFA content. XPS showed that the film‐air surface of the UV‐cured polyurethane acrylate film had a higher fluorine content than the film‐glass dish interface. As the PFA content increased from 0 to 12 wt %, the surface tension of the UV‐cured urethane acrylates decreased from 26.8 to 15.6 mN/m, whereas the water/methylene iodide contact angles of the film–air surface increased from 90.1/63.6° to 120.9/87.1°. These results suggest that the UV‐curable polyurethane acrylates containing a PFA content up to 12 wt % have strong potential as fouling‐release coating materials.