Preparation and properties of waterborne epoxy resin modified by poly(meth)acrylates containing long fluorinated side chains

Two waterborne poly(meth)acrylates containing fluorinated side chains (PALF and PASF) were synthesized by conventional radical copolymerization. Then waterborne epoxy composites with hydrophobic surface were obtained through a phase-inversion emulsion technique, using the PALF and PASF acrylates as reactive surface additives. Contact angle measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscope were employed to characterize the surface properties and the results confirmed that the fluorine atoms in the longer fluorinated side chains migrated to the outmost layer more efficiently. The effect of the fluorinated content and the length of the fluorine side chain on thermal and bulk properties of the waterborne epoxy resin was investigated. With increasing the fluorinated content or the length of the fluorine side chain, the contact angles and thermal properties improved while the mechanical properties showed no deterioration.