Synthesis and Conformational Relationship of New Fluorinated Acrylate Polymer-Based Internal Mold Release Agents

This study employed short fluorocarbon chain perfluorohexylethyl methacrylate (PFOL, R _f = 6) and long hydrocarbon chain Stearyl acrylate (SA, R = 18) to synthesize a series of fluorinated acrylate polymers (FAP) via solution polymerization. The copolymerization rates of PFOL and SA were calculated, and the copolymer composition curves were plotted to produce FAP with uniform composition and varying PFOL ratios. Experiments revealed that these FAP demonstrated significant dissolution and migration behaviors during the processing of fluoroelastomers, influenced by the PFOL to SA ratio. The optimized FAP (PFOL ratio of 0.7), with a weight-average molecular weight between 23,000 and 26,000, significantly reduced the demolding force of fluoroelastomer O-rings from 49 to 20 N. Water contact angle and demolding force tests further verified the internal mold release effects of the FAP. Predictions from the CISOC-PSAT program indicate that the FAP synthesized in this study is less toxic compared to the copolymer of perfluorooctylethyl methacrylate (POEMA) and SA, with negative results for carcinogenic and mutagenic toxicity, demonstrating its potential as an environmentally friendly, green fluorine-containing internal mold release agent.