Effects of different molecular chain lengths and side groups on structure and property of UV-curable waterborne cathodic electrophoretic deposition coatings

A series of UV-curable waterborne cathodic electrophoretic deposition (CED) coatings with various structures were successfully developed by introducing modified acrylic monomer with different molecular chain lengths and side groups. The length of linear chain of the modified monomer had little effect on phase separation of acrylic polymer and easily formed homogeneous structure. Owing to the longer molecular chains, the pencil hardness decreased from 2H to H and the glass transition temperature reduced to 77.7 °C. The hard side groups of the modified monomer in CED coatings exhibited opposite characteristics resulting from the steric hindrance of the rigid groups and the crosslinking network, which were more likely to exhibit partial phase separation. Therefore, the stronger rigidity of the molecular structure improved the particle size to 122.42 nm, the smoothness of the CED cured film and surface contact angle decreased. And the morphology of the films became rough and surface contact angle decreased. Besides, the adhesive force and flexibility of the films could be excellent. The surface rust of the modified CED film is not remarkable under salt spray test. The photopolymerization rate (Rp) and the double bond conversion were evaluated. It was found that the Rp and the conversion obviously decreased with increasing rigid groups in acrylate molecular chains. However, the maximum decomposition temperature of it was higher than the other samples. The residue char yield (Yc) was 5.24 wt%. The stronger rigidity of the molecular structure had better thermal stability and mechanical properties.