Kinetic Study of the Photo-Induced Copolymerization of N-Substituted Maleimides with Electron Donor Monomers

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-1999

Department

Polymers and High Performance Materials

Abstract

The photo-induced copolymerization of electron donor/electron acceptor monomers has been studied by real-time infrared spectroscopy. With maleimide/vinyl ether mixtures, the reaction was found to proceed rapidly upon u.v. exposure in the absence of oxygen to reach nearly 100% conversion within seconds. The two monomers disappeared at similar rates, with formation of an alternating copolymer. Similar results were obtained with maleimide/N-vinylpyrrolidone and maleimide/styryloxy combinations. Highly crosslinked polymer networks have been produced by photo-induced copolymerization of bis-maleimide and divinyl ether monomers. These photoinitiator-free formulations were found to be less sensitive to oxygen inhibition than typical u.v.-curable acrylate resins. N-substituted maleimides were also shown to act as monomeric photoinitiators by inducing the polymerization of acrylate monomers upon u.v. irradiation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication Title

Polymer

Volume

40

Issue

9

First Page

2447

Last Page

2454

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