Synthesis, characterization and formation mechanism of acrylate emulsion-based self-matting coatings

A novel method to prepare crosslinked acrylate self-matting coatings is introduced in this study. Pentaerythritol tetraacrylate (PET4A) was used as a cross-linker to synthesize a series of self-matting crosslinked acrylate coatings (PETs). The gloss value of the PET films was found to decrease as the amount of the cross-linker increased at the three typical incident angles of 20°, 60°, and 85°. Furthermore, the factors that affect glossiness including phase separation, cross linking density, the film-forming temperature, and the film-forming thickness were investigated. PET films provided a transparency of 84% with only 5 wt% of PET4A addition and exhibited a gloss of 5.0 (60°), which illustrates the advantage of using PETs in low-gloss aqueous coatings. In addition, the results of thermogravimetric analysis showed that the PET films exhibit excellent thermal stability. Furthermore, the PET emulsions exhibited a narrow particle size distribution, with a zeta potential of approximately −30.0 mV, revealing their excellent storage stability.