MULTIFUNCTIONAL ACRYLATE OLIGOMERS AS PIGMENT GRINDING VEHICLES FOR RADIATION-CURABLE INK APPLICATIONS

摘要

The invention detailed herein comprises a family of multifunctional acrylate oligomers which are useful as pigment grinding vehicles for use in radiation-curable coating formulations. The multifunctional acrylate resins are formed by the reaction of acrylate monomers and oligomers with ß-keto esters (e.g., acetoacetates), ß-diketones (e.g., 2, 4-pentanedione), ß-keto amides (e.g., acetoacetanilide, acetoacetamide), and/or other ß-dicarbonyl compounds or Michael "donors" that can participate in the Michael addition reaction. These resin vehicles have a built-in chromophore that enables ink formulations made from their dispersions to cure under standard UV-cure conditions with significantly less photoinitiator than commercial formulations. The resins also exhibit excellent pigment wetting characteristics and can be designed to function as a single dispersion vehicle for different pigments and different ink applications such as screen, flexographic, and lithographic printing.