Adding zirconia nanoparticles in acrylate coatings makes the later stronger

What is it about?

PC and PMMA are transparent plastics that often serve as a replacement for glass. However, they are not as hard as glass and can be scratched easily. A hard coat, typically in the form of a UV cured lacquer, is needed to improve the durability. The hardness of the coating may increase if inorganic fillers are included, but the transparency may be sacrificed unless the fillers are so small that does not block light. The adding of zirconia nanoparticles in our recipe was able to triple the hardness of the resulted coating while maintaining the transparency. At the same time, the higher refractive index of zirconia also makes the coating glassy shinning.

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Photo by Sweet Ice Cream Photography on Unsplash

Photo by Sweet Ice Cream Photography on Unsplash