Ultraviolet (UV) curing technology has been widely used in many applications because it has several distinct advantages compared to solvent-based processes or thermal-curing technology. The effects of photoinitiator types and their contents as well as reactive diluent types and their contents on the UV-curing behavior and mechanical properties of a UV-curable polyester acrylate resin were investigated in this study. Three photoinitiators, Irgacure 184, Darocur 1173, and benzophenone, were used in this study. Hexanediol diacrylate, tripropylene glycol diacrylate, and trimethylol propane triacrylate were used as reactive diluents to modify the properties of the acrylate resin. The change of chemical structure during UV curing was monitored by FTIR. A universal testing machine was used to measure the tensile properties of various UV-cured acrylate films of different compositions. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.