Synthesis of water-soluble urethane acrylate cationomers and their ultraviolet coating properties

Water-soluble urethane acrylate cationomers were synthesized by incorporating N-methyldiethanolamine (MDE'A) into the molecular backbone for an application of ultraviolet (UV) curing. It was found that they were easily dissolved in, because of the sufficient hydration ability of the incorporated cationic groups. Differing from conventional urethane acrylate derivatives, when UV-curved, the films of the urethane acrylate cationomers showed significantly improved coating properties. This was because of the formation of the ionic hard domains in the urethane acrylate network. In dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), the formation of the ionic hard domain could be confirmed by detecting the glass transition peak T-gh, around 23.4 degrees C. The dyeing of the urethane acrylate cationomer films was considerably favorable because of their positively-charged network structure.