Facile synthesis of UV-curable fluorosilicone polymers and coatings with good corrosive resistance on account of the reaction of disulfide bonds with vinyl groups

A new UV curing strategy is introduced into the curing field of fluorosilicone polymers. This strategy is predicated on the reaction of sulfur radicals generated from disulfide bonds with vinyl groups under the presence of UV light. Here, we engineered and synthesized a kind of novel fluorosilicone polymers (FS-SS) with disulfide bonds and vinyl groups. The disulfide bonds contained in FS-SS undergo photocleavage under ultraviolet irradiation, generating sulfide radicals, which can interact with vinyl groups to complete the curing reaction. Subsequently, the UV curing behavior of coatings on the basis of the novel polymers and photo-initiator 1173 was investigated by FT-IR spectroscopy and a possible UV-curable reaction mechanism based on disulfide bonds and vinyl groups was proposed. The results showed that curing reactions based on disulfide bonds and vinyl groups can reach a relatively high degree of reaction in a short period of time in terms of reaction rate. However, the lower conversion rate of the reaction may be due to the fact that the sulfur radicals generated by disulfide bonds are more inclined to form disulfide bonds rather than undergo addition reactions with vinyl groups. Subsequently, a series of fluorosilicone coatings with good optical transparency (transmittance above 90 %), good hydrophobicity (the lowest value of surface energy is 21.54 mN/m), lower roughness value (Ra values was in the region of 2.24 nm– 12.2 nm) and high temperature resistance were prepared by utilizing this curing strategy. Furthermore, the applicable experiment of fluorosilicone coatings to protect tinplate as anti-corrosive coatings was also performed. The corrosive resistance results formalize its practical value for possible application as preventive coatings.