Study on the Curing Factors of Superhydrophobic Epoxy Resin Anti-fouling Coatings Based on Polydimethylsiloxane Molecular Brush

Liquid-like polymer coatings offer significant values in the field of anti-fouling coatings due to their ability to eliminate the need for complex nanostructures. In this study, a liquid-like omniphobic anti-fouling coating was synthesized through the copolymerization reaction of epoxy resin (EP), hexamethylene diisocyanate trimer (HDIT), and polydimethylsiloxane(HO-PDMS) molecular brushes. The coating generated a high cross-linking density of rigid oxazolidinone (OX) heterocyclic structures during the polymerization process, which was connected by flexible hexamethylene segments and covalently grafted with liquid-like PDMS molecular brushes. Consequently, the coating exhibited high hardness, excellent flexibility, and dynamic omniphobic anti-fouling performance. The properties of the coating including hardness, bending radius, and sliding angle were tested by using the film hardness testers, cylindrical shaft bending radius testers, and contact angle meters under different curing conditions. Finally, the influences of curing conditions on the coating properties were investigated in conjunction with the above results.