In order to achieve visible light curing of acrylic coatings，a new type of acylphosphine oxide photoinitiator 4-diethylaminobenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide（DEAPO）was used for light curing coatings. The effects of light source，photoinitiator dosage，and active diluent type on gel content，water absorption，acid and alkali resistance，and mechanical properties of the coatings were studied. As the results shown，with DEAPO as photoinitiator， acrylate coatings was cured under the irradiation of ultraviolet light source（LED-385 nm）and visible light source（LED-420 nm），respectively. The gel content in the cured coating was up to 98%，and the optimal amount of DEAPO under the visible light source was only 1/2 of theultraviolet light source. It indicated that DEAPO could cooperate with visible light source at alower dosage to accomplish the light-curing of acrylate coatings. This result was importance toreduce energy consumption and coating cost in the field of photocured coatings. Compared withthe commercial photoinitiator TPO，excellent mechanical properties，and better acid and alkali resistance were obtained with DEAPO. In addition，DEAPO contains tertiary amine groups， which was used as co-initiators for DETX. The final coatings exhibit comparable mechanicalproperties with those of the common system（DETX/EDAB）. This indicated that DEAPO could also replace EDAB for Type II photoinitiation system.