1. Politecnico di Torino, Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali e Ingegneria Chimica, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy;2. Dipartimento di Ingegneria dei Materiali e dell'Ambiente, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Vignolese 905/A, 41125 Modena, Italy
Abstract:
Surface properties of epoxy coatings are modified by PDMS additives in cationic UV curing of a cycloaliphatic epoxy resin. The cured films show a very high hydrophobicity that does not depend on PDMS concentration, indicating that a threshold is reached even at 0.3 wt% additive. A slight increase of the water contact angle as a function of PDMS molecular weight is observed. The additive selectively modified the air‐side of the film, while the glass‐side retains the surface properties of the pure resin. This segregation phenomenon permits to obtain highly hydrophobic films with still good adhesion properties on polar substrates, which is an important advantage over common surface‐modified resins.
