UV-curing resin compositions for hard coat applications

1. An actinic radiation curable (meth)acrylic composition for use in hardcoats for optical displays comprising: (a) one or more multifunctional (meth)acrylate monomers; (b) one or more Si-containing (meth)acrylate monomers; (c) one or more UV radical initiators; (d) 0.5 to 5 wt. % of one or more monomers containing thiols selected from the group consisting of aliphatic thiols and aromatic thiols to improve surface cure; (e) nanoparticles, and (f) one or more organic solvents.

2. The actinic radiation curable (meth)acrylic composition of claim 1 ; wherein the one or more Si-containing (meth)acrylate monomers is selected from the group consisting of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes having one or more of the following Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula 4, and Formula 5:

wherein R is the same or different at each occurrence and is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, deuterium, a halogen, a cyano, a substituted or unsubstituted perfluoro(C 1 -C 30 )alkyl, a partially fluorinated or perfluorinated polyether, a polyether derived from ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, tetrahydrofurane or analogous heterocycles, a substituted or unsubstituted (C 1 -C 30 )alkyl, a substituted or unsubstituted (C 1 -C 30 )alkyl, a substituted or unsubstituted deuterated (C 1 -C 30 )alkyl, a substituted or unsubstituted (C 2 -C 30 )alkenyl, a substituted or unsubstituted deuterated (C 2 -C 30 )alkenyl, a substituted or unsubstituted (C 2 -C 30 )alkynyl, a substituted or unsubstituted deuterated (C 2 -C 30 )alkynyl, a substituted or unsubstituted (C 3 -C 30 )cycloalkyl, a substituted or unsubstituted deuterated (C 3 -C 30 )cycloalkyl, a substituted or unsubstituted (C 6 -C 60 )aryl, a substituted or unsubstituted deuterated (C 6 -C 60 )aryl, a substituted or unsubstituted tri(C 1 -C 30 )alkylsilyl, a substituted or unsubstituted deuterated tri(C 1 -C 30 )alkylsilyl, a substituted or unsubstituted tri(C 6 -C 30 )arylsilyl, a substituted or unsubstituted deuterated tri(C 6 -C 30 )arylsilyl, a substituted or unsubstituted di(C 1 -C 30 )alkyl(C 6 -C 30 )arylsilyl, a substituted or unsubstituted deuterated di(C 1 -C 30 )alkyl(C 6 -C 30 )arylsilyl, a substituted or unsubstituted (C 1 -C 30 )alkyldi(C 6 -C 30 )arylsilyl, a substituted or unsubstituted deuterated (C 1 -C 30 )alkyldi(C 6 -C 30 )arylsilyl, a substituted or unsubstituted mono- or di-(C 6 -C 30 )arylamino, or a substituted or unsubstituted deuterated mono- or di-(C 6 -C 30 )arylamino; or may be linked to an adjacent substituent(s) to form a substituted or unsubstituted (C 3 -C 30 ), mono- or polycyclic, alicyclic or aromatic ring that may or may not contain deuterium, and whose carbon atom(s) may be replaced with at least one hetero atom selected from N, O, and S.

3. The actinic radiation curable (meth)acrylate composition of claim 2 ; wherein R is the same or different at each occurrence and contains one or more (meth)acrylate groups and one or more (meth)acrylate groups reacted with a thiol-compound comprising a substituted or unsubstituted (C 6 -C 30 )alkyl group.

4. The actinic radiation curable (meth)acrylic composition of claim 1 ; wherein the composition comprises from 0.05 to 2.5 wt. % of nanoparticles, and wherein the nanoparticles are selected from the group consisting of suspended silicon oxide nanoparticles and suspended aluminum oxide nanoparticles.

5. The actinic radiation curable (meth)acrylic composition of claim 1 ; wherein the one or more organic solvents is selected from the group consisting of ketones, ethers, aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons; aromatic alcohols, alkanols, esters, and combinations thereof including combinations comprising multiple functional groups in the one or more organic solvents.