Improving the Stability of UV-Cured Materials by the Radical Scavenger Loaded into Halloysite Nanotubes

We prepared a new size-stable UV-cured material by loading a radical scavenger, 4-methoxyphenol (MEHQ), into halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) to improve the size-stability of UV-cured products. Loading the MEHQ into halloysite nanotubes was intended to protect the curing reaction from the typical inhibitive influence of a radical scavenger. After the curing process, heating treatment was performed on the cured products to accelerate the release of MEHQ from the halloysite lumen. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller tests and transmission electron micrographs showed that MEHQ was successfully loaded into the halloysite lumen. The photopolymerization kinetic curves of composites revealed that adding the MEHQ-loaded halloysite nanotubes (HNTs-M) into UV-cured materials enabled faster photopolymerization rate than adding a simple mixture of HNTs and MEHQ. With MEHQ loaded in HNTs, the inhibition influence of MEHQ could be reduced. The results of the size-stability test showed that composites with HNTs-M underwent lower deformation during daily use than neat cured materials. In particular, the volume shrinkage of the composites with 8 wt% HNTs-M in daily use was decreased by 51.3%. The results of the release experiment showed that the release rate of MEHQ could be increased through heating treatment. This method may be used to improve the size-stability of UV-curable materials in the future.