Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Uv Curable Coatings For Improved Gas Barrier Properties Of Poly(Ethylene Terephthalate), Ethem Kaya, Tara Smith, Lon J. Mathias

Faculty Publications

A new high-barrier coating based on methyl (alpha-hydroxymethyl)acrylate (MHMA) for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) was developed along with the process for preform dipping and cure prior to blow molding into bottles. The UV curable coating gives excellent gas barrier improvement when coated onto PET biaxially oriented thin films. Blown bottle side walls from coated PET preforms also show 2-3 times improvement over uncoated side walls. The effect of photoinitiator concentration, initiator types, and temperature on photopolymerization kinetics of MHMA was investigated. Once the photoinitiator, lrgacure 819 (R), concentration became larger than 1 mol%, a decrease in rate of propagation was observed. …