Ethyl acrylate is an important unsaturated carboxylate ester. At room temperature, it is a flammable, volatile colorless liquid with an irritating odor. Containing carbon-carbon double bonds in its molecular structure, it features high chemical reactivity and is prone to self-polymerization. For this reason, 10–30 ppm MEHQ (4-methoxyphenol) is commonly added as a polymerization inhibitor in commercial products. With excellent polymerization capacity and reactivity, it serves as one of the core monomers for synthesizing polymer materials.

1. Polymer synthesis: Mainly used for the production of homopolymer and copolymer acrylate resins, acrylic rubber, coatings, adhesives, textile sizing agents, paper processing agents, etc.
2. Coating industry: Applied to manufacture water-based acrylic coatings, solvent-based coatings and UV-curable coatings, improving the weather resistance, water resistance and gloss of paint films.
3. Adhesives: Used to produce pressure-sensitive adhesives, construction adhesives and textile adhesives, offering excellent bonding strength and flexibility.
4. Textile and leather industries: Serves as textile finishing agents and leather coating agents to enhance the hand feel, water resistance and wear resistance of fabrics and leather.
5. Plastic modification: Copolymerized with monomers such as acrylonitrile and styrene for impact modification of ABS, MBS and other resins.