Towards Novel Fluorinated Methacrylic Coatings for Cultural Heritage: A Combined Polymers and Surfaces Chemistry Study

In this work, new co- and ter-polymers of methyl methacrylate (MMA), ethyl methacrylate (EMA), and N-butyl methacrylate (nBuMA), containing just 1% mol × mol(−1) of a fluorinated co-monomer, 3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8-tridecafluoro-octyl methacrylate (POMA), were synthesized. After an UV accelerated aging test, the photo-chemical stability of the polymers prepared was determined by (1)H NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry and wettability measurements. The polymers were applied to Botticino tiles to achieve better performances in terms of water repellency and consequently deterioration resistance. One-year prolonged exposure to a real environment was conducted and the properties of the coated materials and their performances were studied using different surface techniques such as water contact angle (WCA) and colorimetric measurements (CIELaB), capillary absorption, permeability (RVP) tests and soluble salts determination. The effectiveness of the fluorinated methacrylic coatings was clearly demonstrated; among all the resins, the co-polymer MMA_POMA seems to be the most performing one. Furthermore, both the UV photo-chemical resistance and the easiness of removal was successfully studied.