Use of cardanol-based acrylate as reactive diluent in UV-curable castor oil-based polyurethane acrylate resins

A biobased diluent, cardanyl acrylate (CA), was synthesized from cardanol and used to modify a castor oil-based polyfunctional polyurethane acrylate (PUA) resin. Firstly, chemical structure of CA was characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR. Subsequently, the effect of CA’s content on the biobased content, viscosity, and volumetric shrinkage of the obtained bioresins were studied and compared with the petroleum-based hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) diluent. Moreover, ultimate properties of the UV-cured biomaterials such as thermal, mechanical, coating, swelling, and hydrophobic properties were investigated. Finally, UV-curing kinetics of the resulting bioresins were determined by real-time IR. By the addition of CA, the biobased content of the resulting bioresins were improved and the viscosity and volumetric shrinkage were reduced. For example, the obtained bioresin containing 30% of CA possessed a biobased content of 62.8% and volumetric shrinkage of 9.51%, which were clearly better than those of the bioresin with 30% of HEA (50.8% and 21.94%), respectively. Furthermore, many other properties of the UV-cured biomaterials, such as thermal stability, coating’s hardness and adhesion, and hydrophobic properties, were improved by the incorporation of CA. The final CC conversions of the resulting bioresins were also enhanced by the addition of CA. Hence, the cardanol-based diluent showed good potential in the development of UV-curable coatings.