Self-Stratifying Behavior of a Light-Curable Coating Containing Bio-Renewable Materials: Study on the plasticizer type

Abstract

This study aimed to find the best plasticizer for methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) to develop a well-structured light-curable self-stratifying coatings using GelMA and acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO). The influences of several solvents including ethanol, glycerin, formamide, acetic acid, and dimethylsulfoxide on the stratification level were evaluated by SEM. It was learned that the performance of solvents can be managed by their solubility parameter and evaporation rate. Also, the results demonstrated that solvents with higher evaporation rate and lower solubility parameters such as ethanol and acetic acid could not lead to proper self-stratificatied morphology in a green GelMA-AESO-based coating.