Preparation of fluorine and silicon modified cationic acrylic resin and its application in cathodic electrodeposition coatings

Purpose Fluorinated silicon polymers are expected to be adopted in specific coatings to afford outstanding advantages, such as high chemical and photochemical resistance, low surface tension and low refractive index. The modified acrylate resin is prepared via solution polymerization of fluorine and silicon monomers, acrylate monomers and other functional monomers. The purpose of this paper is that the fluorine and silicon monomers such as vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) and hexafluorobutyl methacrylate (HFMA) and some cheap monomers such as styrene are used to prepare the cationic acrylic resin. Design/methodology/approach The fluorine and silicon modified cationic acrylic resin is prepared via solution polymerization technology, which uses butyl acrylate (BA), methyl methacrylate (MMA), styrene (St), HFMA, VTES, dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA) as the co-polymerized monomers, propylene glycol monomethyl ether (PGME) as solvent and 2,2-Azo-bis-iso-butyronitrile (AIBN) as the initiator to create a resin to introduce the Si–O and C–F into the polymer chains. The cathodic electrodeposition (CED) coatings were prepared by mixing the synthetic resin and blocked isocyanate. Findings The influence of the amounts of HFMA and VETS on the resin and the resultant CED coatings is investigated in detail. The optimum amounts of HFMA and VETS are obtained, which is 7–8% and 4–5%, respectively. The hydrophobicity and the acid and alkaline resistance of the film are improved when VETS and HFMA are introduced to co-polymerize with other monomers. Originality/value The fluorine and silicon monomers such as VTES and HFMA and some cheap monomers such as styrene, which are used to prepare the cationic acrylic resin, are seldom reported in the open literature.