Monomers and Oligomers

The products covered by these orders are monomers and oligomers from Taiwan. The products subject to this investigation are certain multifunctional acrylate and methacrylate monomers, and acrylated bisphenol-A epoxy based oligomers (collectively, certain monomers and oligomers or CMOs) that are derived from chemical reactions involving the use of acrylic or methacrylic acid. Products within the scope are listed below and have the following Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) numbers: 109-16-0 Triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA); 13048-33-4 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA); 42978-66-5 Tripropylene glycol diacrylate (TPGDA); 3290-92-4 Trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TMPTMA); 15625-89-5 Trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA); 28961-43-5 Ethoxylated trimethylol-propane triacrylate (EOTMPTA); 57472-68-1 Dipropylene glycol diacrylate (DPGDA); 55818-57-0 Bisphenol-A-epichlorohydrin copolymer acrylate (EPOXY ACRYLATE). The monomers are generally known as multifunctional acrylates (MFAs) or multifunctional methacrylates (MFMAs) depending on whether the functional groups are acrylate or methacrylate. The monomers generally contain stabilizers/inhibitors, which include but are not limited to Hydroquinone, Methyl Hydroquinone, and Butylated Hydroxy Toluene. The monomers are either difunctional or trifunctional (having 2 or 3 functional groups/molecule), have viscosities of 9 to 15 centipoise (cPs) at 25 degrees Celsius (if difunctional) or 44 to 110 cPs at 25 degrees Celsius (if trifunctional), have (meth)acrylate equivalent weights (molecular weight per number of functional groups) between 99 and 158 and molecular weights between 226 and 472 grams per mol. The acrylated bisphenol-A epoxy based oligomer is commonly referred to as epoxy acrylate or acrylated epoxy. In contrast to epoxy resin, the main characteristic of the epoxy acrylate oligomer is that it contains acrylate functional groups which make them curable by free-radical polymerization. The epoxy acrylate has a molecular weight between 508 to 536 grams per mol and a viscosity of 2400 to 3600 cPs at 65 degrees Celsius. The epoxy acrylate generally contains stabilizers/inhibitors, which include but are not limited to Hydroquinone, Methyl Hydroquinone, and Butylated Hydroxy Toluene. Certain monomers and oligomers are subject to the scope even if an in-scope monomer or oligomer is blended or mixed with one or more other in-scope monomers or oligomers. Certain monomers and oligomers in any blend or mixture are also subject to the scope, so long as the blend or mixture contains no less than 20 percent by weight of in-scope CMOs. The scope includes merchandise matching the above description that has been processed in a third country, including by commingling, diluting, introducing, or removing ingredients, or performing any other processing that would not otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of the investigation if performed in the subject country. The scope also includes CMOs that are commingled, mixed or blended with in-scope product from sources not subject to the Order. Only the subject component(s) of such blends, mixtures or commingled products described above is covered by the scope of the Orders. Subject merchandise contained in a blended, mixed or commingled product described above will not have undergone a chemical reaction as a result of being blended, mixed or commingled. Notwithstanding the above, specifically excluded from the scope are downstream products, including but not limited to, inks, coatings and overprint varnishes. For purposes of this exclusion, the downstream product requires only the application of energy to be cured, e.g., inks or varnish applied to packaging, coatings applied to wood flooring, etc. The energy source required to cure the downstream product to its substrate can be thermal, ultraviolet radiation, visible light, electron beam radiation, or infrared radiation.