On the UV-induced polymeric behavior of Chinese lacquer

To dry Chinese lacquer rapidly for the protection and restoration of archeological findings coated by lacquer or excavated lacquer wares and the development of new application of this lacquer, we carried out UV curing technology to improve its curing rate using a high-pressure mercury lamp as a UV source in the absence of any additional photoinitiator. The effects of mainly specific components in Chinese lacquer sap and the role of each reactive group of urushiol, namely hydroxyl groups, hydrogen on the phenyl ring, and olefins in the side chain, in the course of UV exposure were well-investigated. The UV-cured Chinese lacquer films were also characterized by FT-IR, (1)H NMR, SEM, TGA, and Py-GC/MS. The results showed that urushiol was the main component to form Chinese lacquer films, and decomposed to generate the urushiol semiquinone radicals, which sequentially induced the polymerization of Chinese lacquer by radical polymerization, as well as radical substitution under UV irradiation. In addition, the TG analysis suggested that polysaccharide and glycoproteins were integrated with the UV-cured films by covalent bonding. Furthermore, this method could be suitable to fast cure other phenol bearing long aliphatic unsaturated chain, such as CNSL.