Acrylate coating compositions comprising a UV light cleavable cross-linking agent

A process for coating a substrate with a coating that at least partially mobilises in response to UV light, the process comprising:

• providing a substrate to be coated,
• providing a monomer selected from the group consisting of acrylates, methacrylates and mixtures thereof,
• providing a cross-linking agent comprising two sub-units covalently bonded together, each sub-unit comprising an unsaturated group which is co-polymerisable with the monomer, wherein the two sub-units are adapted to dissociate in response to irradiation by UV light,
• contacting the substrate with the monomer and the cross-linking agent, wherein the cross-linking agent is in an amount of less than about 15 mol % of the total of the monomer and cross-linking agent, and
• inducing co-polymerisation of the monomer and the cross-linking agent to form a polymer.

A coating that at least partially mobilises in response to UV light, comprising:

• a polymer comprising a monomer selected from the group consisting of acrylates, methacrylates and mixtures thereof and cross-linked by cross-linking groups,
• wherein the cross-linking groups comprise two sub-units covalently bonded together and adapted to dissociate by a cycloelimination reaction in response to irradiation by UV light to form pendant unsaturated groups,
• wherein the cross-linking groups are present in the polymer in an amount of less than about 15 mol % of the total of the monomer and cross-linking groups, and
• wherein the polymer, prior to irradiation by the UV light, comprises less than about 5 mol % of the pendant unsaturated groups relative to the cross-linking groups.