In this study, a UV-curable glycidyl methacrylatemethyl methacrylate (GMAMMA) copolymer with an acrylic acid (AA) pendant group was synthesized via simple radical polymerization. The procedure for forming the backbone (GMAMMA) consisted of two polymerization steps; step 1 was performed under excess solvent and step 2 involved the introduction of additional monomer except solvent owing to the high degree of polymerization at a minimum solvent. The use of these separate steps during GMAMMA polymerization improved the degree of conversion (DC) during polymerization optimization. The DC was estimated using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR) spectroscopy. The behaviors of AA and GMA in the copolymer were interpreted on the basis of the glass transition temperature (Tg) and the molecular weight (Mw).The hardness and flexibility of the film were monitored with respect to the molar ratios of GMA/MMA and AA/GMA, respectively; the optimized molar ratios of GMA/MMA and AA/GMA were 1.6 and 1.8, respectively. The copolymer fabricated in this study was applied as a UV-curable thin layer via a coating method. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 31: 271279, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/adv.20250