Abstract: | A UV‐curable polyurethane (PU)‐coating system containing phosphorus is formulated by the combination of photoinitiator, PU acrylate oligomer, and UV‐reactive phosphazene monomer. PU acrylate oligomer is prepared by the addition of 2‐hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) to NCO‐terminated PU prepolymer. UV‐reactive phosphazene monomer is derived from the HEMA substitution reaction to hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene (NPCl2)3. The curing reaction of this PU‐coating system is carried out by UV irradiation. The resultant UV‐cured PU‐coated films demonstrated better performance properties than those of original UV‐cured PU acrylate (UV‐PU) without UV‐reactive phosphazene monomer. Furthermore, their thermal properties are investigated by a thermogravimetric analyzer and a dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer, respectively. The combustion behaviors of these UV‐cured PU‐coated films are evaluated by the measurements of a limiting oxygen index and a cone calorimeter. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 85: 1980–1991, 2002 |