Novel multi-material photo-curable resins containing high-performance photoinitiating systems and nano additives dedicated to 3D-VAT printing

Abstract

Herein the suitability of new 9-[(E)-2-phenyl]anthracene and 9-[(E)-2-phenyl]phenanthrene derivatives for the role of photosensitizers of diphenylidonium salts to initiate various types of photopolymerization processes using UV- and Vis-LED light sources were presented. The usefulness of the investigated compounds for initiating the cationic photopolymerization of epoxy monomer, radical photopolymerization of an acrylate monomer, and hybrid photopolymerization were tested. The versatility of two-component initiating systems has been verified. The possibility of initiating the process of photopolymerization of resins with the addition of nanoparticles (such as titanium oxide or zinc oxide) was also checked, from which at a subsequent stage of research an attempt was made to obtain photo-curable nanocomposites. To date, literature reports on the preparation of photo-curable nanocomposites refer to two-component initiator systems that are used to initiate hybrid photopolymerization, where the process occurs according to a radical mechanism. The following work presents initiating systems that were also used to initiate the photopolymerization of hybrid resins with the addition of nanoparticles, for which photopolymerizing monomers were used simultaneously according to the radical and cationic mechanism. The use of anthracene and phenanthrene derivatives in combination with the iodonium salt allows for increased process initiation efficiency. Following current trends, it was decided to test the suitability of newly developed two-component initiator systems based on 9-[(E)-2-phenylethenyl]anthracene and 9-[(E)-2-phenylethenyl]phenanthrene derivatives for 3D printing applications in digital light processing technology for which low-budget devices were used. The main aspect discussed in the following work is the formation of photo-curable polymer nanocomposites.