Radiation-curing polymers

The major use of vinylpyrrohdinone is as a monomer in manufacture of poly(vinylpyrrohdinone) (PVP) homopolymer and in various copolymers, where it frequendy imparts hydrophilic properties. When PVP was first produced, its principal use was as a blood plasma substitute and extender, a use no longer sanctioned. These polymers are used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic appHcations, soft contact lenses, and viscosity index improvers. The monomer serves as a component in radiation-cured polymer compositions, serving as a reactive diluent that reduces viscosity and increases cross-linking rates (see... 

Decker, C, Keller, L, Zahouily, K, Benfarhi, S. 2005. Synthesis of nanocomposite polymers by UV-radiation curing. Polymer 46 6640-6648. 

Solvents can be replaced with reactive diluents like some monomers, as is the practice with unsaturated polyesters and with radiation-curing polymers. Polyfunctional monomers like unsaturated melamine resins are becoming used as diluents for alkyd resins [61]. 

ESCA spectroscopy has a number of advantages as a spectroscopic method in the study of radiation cured polymers ... 

C. Carlini and L. Angiolini, Radiat. Curing Polym. Sci. Technol., 2, 283... 

C. Decker, L. KeUer, K. Zahouily, S. Benfarhi, S3mthesis of nanocomposite pol3miers by UV-radiation curing , Polymer, 2005, 46, 6640-6648. 

Similar types of cross-linking reactions are observed for polymers to which photosensitive molecules ate chemically attached to the backbone of the polymer stmcture (Fig. 7). Radiation curing of polymers using uv and visible light energies is used widely in photoimaging and photoresist technology (Table 8) (58,59). 

D. R. RandeU, ed.. Radiation Curing of Polymers, Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House, London, 1987. 

Radiation Curing in Polymer SHence andTechnology, Vols. 1—IV, J. P. Eouassier and J. E. Rabek, eds., Elsevier Science Pubhshing Co., Inc., New York, 1993. 

As mentioned above, it is the polymer that crosslinks during the radiation cure of hot melts. Various polymer systems have been developed and several of these are now commercial. A brief description of each is summarized below. 

Erickson, J., Zimmermann, E., Southwick, J. and Kiibler. K., Adhes. Age, Nov. (1995). Charlesby, R., Atomic Radiation and Polymers. Pergamon Press, New York, I960, p. 467. Pappas, S.P., Radiation curing a personal perspective. In Pappas, S.P. (Ed.), Radiation Curing Science and Technology. Plenum Press, New York, 1992, p. I. 

There are miscellaneous uses of low-LET irradiation other than what we have discussed so far. However, for lack of space, we have not treated the vast field of radiation-induced polymerization and the effect of radiation on polymers. Some useful references have been cited in the beginning of this chapter. Here we will only describe briefly two topics—grafting and curing. 

UV-radiation curing has become a well-accepted technology which has found numerous industrial applications because of its distinct advantages 1-3. One of its main characteristics is the rapidity of the process which transforms quasi-instantly the liquid resin into a solid polymer under intense illumination by a UV-source or a laser beam4. The polymerization rate can be finely controlled by acting on the initiation rate through the intensity of the UV radiation. It is... 

Fouassier, J.P. Rabek, J. eds. Radiation Curing in Polymer Science and Technology, I-TV, 1993, Elsevier Applied Science, New York, NY. 

As signaled within this book, modification through exposure to radiation, (thermal, light and particle) continues to be at the forefront of many areas of polymer modification. A major problem involves use of industrial radiation curing of... 

---