UV cured silicon-containing polyurethane-acrylate coatings with non-traditional fluorescence and temperature-sensitive transparency

A kind of UV-curable silicon-containing hyperbranched polyurethane-acrylate coating was prepared and the features of UV curing reaction were investigated in detail. These UV cured coatings exhibit unexpected fluorescence emission under the excitation of UV and the fluorescence peaks of these UV cured products appear at about 320 nm with unimodal distributions. The UV cured coatings also exhibit unexpected temperature-sensitive transparency. The transmittance of these coatings is in the range of 85–98% at room temperature, however, the transmittance reduced significantly to be no more than 62% at 10 °C, especially, the transmittance of UV-HPSiPUA-HP3 is lower than 10%. The other performances such as pencil hardness, water contact angle, grade of adhesion and thermal stability of these coatings were also investigated. The UV cured silicon-containing polyurethane-acrylate coatings with non-traditional fluorescence and temperature-sensitive transparency have potential applications in chemical sensing, bio-imaging, anti-counterfeiting technology, temperature-sensitive optical sensors, etc. • Non-traditional fluorescence emission under the excitation of ultraviolet light at about 320 nm with unimodal distributions. • Temperature-sensitive transparency • Good thermal stability and Td 5% is in the range of 239.5–268 °C