Patents

The invention provides UV curable "methacrylate-silica" hybrid nanocomposite sol derived from tetraalkoxysilane and methacryloxyalkylalkoxy silanes and acrylate polymerization photoinitiator useful for the deposition of anti-scratch coatings. This invention also provides a process for the preparation of "methacrylate-silica" hybrid nanocomposite sol having longer shelf life and is useful for the deposition of anti-scratch coatings on the substrate like PMMA and other related plastics. Conveyorised UV curing machine was used to cure the coating materials. The high hardness of the cured coatings is due to the generation of glass-like dense silica nanoparticles in situ in the sol which remain bonded with the organic-silica polymer network after UV-curing.