Synthesis and surface properties of semi-interpenetrating fluorine-containing polyacrylate and epoxy resin networks

Semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (Semi-IPNs) based on fluorine-containing polyacrylate and epoxy resin were synthesized by the simultaneous polymerization of fluorine-containing acrylate and epoxy resin. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses proved that the fluorine-containing groups have been introduced into Semi-IPNs successfully. In addition, XPS analysis intuitively showed that the fluorine content of the film-air interface of the interpenetrating fluorine-containing polyacrylate and epoxy resin networks (FPAER-SIPNs) film was much higher than that of the film-glass interface. It is noted that the introduction of fluorine-containing groups significantly improved the hydrophobic property of polymer networks. Moreover, when the fluorine content increased, the contact angle of water on FPAER-SIPNs film was increased obviously and the water uptake was decreased gradually. These results indicated that introducing fluorine-containing groups to SIPNs has potential advantage for improving the surface properties of epoxy resin.