PS-PEG Microsphere Modified Silicone Antifouling Coatings

At present,the research on amphiphilic antifouling coatings in the field of marine antifouling is still in a hot state.Compared with the pure silicone coating,it has stronger antifouling properties and excellent drag reduction capabilities.However,the amphiphilic antifouling coatings commonly used at this stage are mainly prepared by alternating or block copolymerization of hydrophilic monomers and hydrophobic monomers.This one main chain structure easily makes the hydrophilic segments and non-hydrophilic chains have an enrichment effect on the surface of the coating,making it difficult to obtain highly complex surfaces with many hydrophilic and hydrophobic micro-nano areas.Compared with the pure silicone coating,the effect of improving the anti-fouling and drag reduction performance is not good.To this end,this paper takes nanomaterials containing polyethylene glycol structure as the matrix object,which has the advantages of high dispersion and good protein adsorption resistance,etc.,using self-emulsifying microemulsion polymerization to prepare polyethylene glycol containing side chains PS-PEG microspheres;study the effects of reaction temperature,reaction time,PEGMA,emulsion solid content,and initiator on emulsion stability and microsphere particle size.Then,mixing PS-PEG microspheres and silicone resins to prepare a new type of antifouling coating by the hydrophilic modification;and studyi the improved effect of the addition of PS-PEG microspheres in this new method on the tensile properties,hydrophilicity and anti-fouling and drag reduction performance of silicone coatings.The research results are as follows:(1)Taking styrene as the main body,glycidyl methacrylate as the cross-linking monomer,polyethylene glycol methyl ether methacrylate as the reactive macromolecular emulsifier and 22-azobis(2-methylpropionamidine)dihydrochloride as the initiator prepare PS-PEG microspheres with PEG branches.The average particle size can reach 46.37nm,the molar content of PEG chains can be up to 1 1.5%,the reaction conditions at this time as follows:the reaction temperature is 55 ℃,the reaction time is 12h,the PEGMA content is 10w.%,the solid content is 20%,the initiator content is 2wt.%.(2)When the addition of PS-PEG microspheres is 2%,the 100%tensile strength of the silicone coating is increased by 4%,the drop rate of the water contact angle after soaking is increased by 420%compared with the pure silicone coating,and the adhesion strength of the simulated biological slime is reduced by 40%;When the addition of PS-PEG microspheres is 4%,the resistance at the simulated speed of 18.3 knots is reduced by 10%compared to the pure silicone coating.The above shows that PS-PEG microspheres can effectively improve the tensile strength,hydrophilicity,drag reduction and antifouling properties of silicone coatings.Taking the anti-fouling performance as the standard,2%is selected as the optimal addition amount of PS-PEG microspheres.