Investigation of the Properties and Curing Behavior of UV Curable Epoxyacrylate/Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite

This paper investigates the curing behavior of epoxy acrylate/graphene oxide UV curable nanocomposite. Also, the simultaneous reduction of GO nanoplates during UV curing of nanocomposite containing type II photoinitiator was studied. Optical and transmission electron microscopies showed good GO nanoplate dispersion in UV curable matrix. Rheological results illustrate the shear thinning behavior of UV-curable nanocomposites so that in high shear rates, the viscosity of nanocomposite is lower than that of UV-curable matrix. Real-time FTIR analysis shows that GO causes a reduction in the curing rate and final conversion of the UV-curable system. However, gel content results show that more UV intensity and curing time led to perfect UV curing of the nanocomposite. An electrical resistance study on the UV-curable nanocomposites made GO reduction during UV irradiation, evidenced by halved electrical resistance of the nanocomposite in less than 150 seconds.