Effect of nature and degree of crosslinking agent of poly(hydroxy-butyl-methacrylate-co-2-ethyl-hexyl-acrylate) networks on the swelling properties in nematic liquid crystal 5CB

Abstract

We experimentally measured the effect of nature and concentration of crosslinker on the photopolymerized time of the poly(hydroxy-butyl-methacrylate-co-2-ethyl-hexyl-acrylate)/5CB system. Initial mixtures are composed of monofunctional monomers hydroxy-butyl-methacrylate (HBMA) and 2-ethyl-hexyl-acrylate (2-EHA), and one of the three bifunctional monomers, poly-propylene-glycol-di-acrylate (PPGDA), tri-propylene-glycol-di-acrylate (TPGDA), or 1,6-hexane-diol-di-acrylate (HDDA), and 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropiophenone (Darocur 1173) as a photoinitiator. The copolymers were elaborated via UV irradiation of reactive formulation. The central composite face-centered design of experiments (DoE) has been used to determine the influence of temperature, crosslinking density and their interactions on swelling behavior of poly(HBMA-co-EHA/crosslinker) networks in liquid crystal 5CB. The experimental results and the predicted responses indicate a good correlation and therefore the validity of the used model.