UV coating and radiation curing technology

UV coatings vary in composition depending on the field of application, but their basic composition can be summarized as:

1. The main role of the reactive diluent is to dissolve the solid components in the UV coating and adjust the viscosity of the system. The diluent in the UV coating is not a volatile organic solvent used in the general coating, but a non-volatile solvent that directly participates in the curing process and has the ability to react. The reactive diluent is generally a type of monomer having a small molecular weight and a polymerizable functional group in the molecule in terms of chemical structure, and forms part of a film after film formation.

2. Oligomers also known as oligomers or oligomers, is the basic framework of UV coatings, under the action of ultraviolet photons to form a three-dimensional structure of the paint film, and give the paint film various properties, such as hardness, flexibility, Adhesion, gloss, anti-aging properties.

3. Photoinitiators are key components in UV coatings. Their role is to transmit the energy of UV photons, rapidly initiate the crosslinking polymerization of monomers and oligomers, and promote the liquid-solid conversion process of the system. According to the initiation mechanism, photoinitiators can be divided into two major types of free radicals and cations.

4. Additives As the name implies, certain auxiliary components added to meet specific application requirements and improve film properties, such as leveling agents, defoamers, substrate lubricants, matting agents, dispersants, stabilizers, and surface smoothness Agent and so on. These additives are no different from those conventionally used in solvent-based coatings.

The basic composition of UV coatings, if coupled with pigments, can be a UV paint. Generally, the thickness of the paint layer of the paint is generally tens of micrometers to several hundred micrometers, and the thickness of the UV paint is only several micrometers (black) to 15 micrometers (white). Such a composition of UV paint lays the foundation for the preparation of UV inks. . In addition, the basic composition of the UV adhesive is also very similar to the UV coating. It can be seen that there is no essential difference between UV coatings and UV inks and even UV adhesives in chemical formulations.


UV coating features

UV coatings can be coated by dip coating, shower coating, lacquer coating, spin coating, or even vacuum coating, and then cured by UV photon irradiation. Compared with general solvent-based coatings, the characteristics of UV coatings are as follows:

1. Fast Curing UV coatings cure in the presence of UV photons, typically in about 1 second or less, enabling rapid and continuous operation, greatly increasing production efficiency.

2. Commonly used oligomers in room temperature curing UV coatings, such as epoxy acrylates, urethane acrylates, polyester acrylates, polyether acrylates, acrylated polyacrylic resins, and unsaturated polyester resins, as well as various acrylates Monofunctional or polyfunctional monomers can be polymerized and crosslinked by free radicals induced by UV photons, and are therefore particularly advantageous for the coating of heat sensitive substrates such as wood, paper and plastics.

3. Energy-saving UV coatings do not require heat drying, which saves 75% to 90% of energy during construction compared to conventional heat-dried coatings.

4. The various coating equipments that save the area of ​​UV coating are compact, do not need to be baked, and the operation is simple and quick, and it is easy to realize production automation. Therefore, the equipment footprint is greatly saved and the working space is reduced.

5. Environmental-friendly UV coating is a solvent-free or substantially solvent-free coating. During the film formation process, no VOCs are released into the atmosphere, causing no pollution to the environment. It is easy to meet the environmental regulations of the government or the legislature.

6. Improve product performance UV coating achieves cross-link polymerization between components under the action of ultraviolet photons, rapid solidification of the liquid into a film, and has a three-dimensional network structure, which can improve the surface properties of the film, such as hardness, flexibility , wear resistance, scratch resistance, chemical resistance, high gloss, durability, etc.


UV paint is different from the conventional application of paint mainly: fast drying, environmental protection, energy saving, high quality. Fast drying is the result of rapid solidification of ultraviolet photon energy acting on the components of the UV coating. Ultraviolet (UV) curing is an important branch of current radiation curing because ultraviolet light only represents a narrow band (between 1 and 380 nm) in the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. Other long-wavelength low-energy radiations include infrared rays, microwaves, radio waves, and short-wavelength high-energy radiation such as X-rays and g-rays. The broad concept of radiation includes even charged particle radiation as well as other radiations such as electron beam (EB), synchrotron radiation, and laser radiation. It is worth noting that the most current application of radiation curing is UV curing and EB curing, in which UV curing applications are broader.



From this point of view, radiation curing (UV/EB curing) is actually a process in which a chemical formulation (paint, ink, and adhesive) is converted from a liquid state to a solid state by means of an energy radiation source (ultraviolet rays or electron beams).



The source of energy radiation in UV curing is an ultraviolet light source. The most commonly used ultraviolet light source at present is a medium pressure mercury lamp. The medium pressure mercury lamp is a non-monochromatic ultraviolet light source, that is, there are multiple ultraviolet rays in the emission spectrum. Mercury lamps can be divided into arc mercury lamps and electrodeless mercury lamps according to their structure. In addition, the xenon lamp is also a non-monochromatic ultraviolet light source, commonly used as a pulse flash. The newly-developed monochromatic ultraviolet light source is an excimer lamp with a rare gas as a working substance: Xenon-charged Xe lamp 172 nm, charge Kr-Cl lamp (222 nm), and charged XeCl lamp (308 nm). The aforementioned mercury lamp, xenon lamp or excimer lamp is a gas ultraviolet light source in the form of a lamp. The recent appearance of a light emitting diode (LED) ultraviolet light source (-385 nm) is a semiconductor solid-state light source, and its unique light source performance may exhibit a wide application potential in the future.



In summary, UV coating and UV light source constitute the basic technical content of UV curing. Without UV coating, UV curing loses its material foundation. Similarly, there is no UV light source, and it will be trapped in the predicament that there is no rice cooker, and the whole process of the accident can't be completed.


The practical application of radiation curing technology can be traced back to the 1960s, when Germany introduced the first generation of UV coating, which was initially applied in the wood coating industry. Afterwards, radiation curing technology has gradually expanded from a single wood substrate to paper, various plastics, metals, stone, and even cement coating, fabric, leather, and other substrate coating applications. The appearance of processed products has also evolved from the original high-light type to matt type, pearl type, bronzing type, texture type, etc. to meet different needs. Radiation curing has entered the print publishing industry on a large scale, and it was about 90s in the last century. Currently, radiation curing covers almost all printing processes, including dry offset printing, wet level printing, screen printing, flexo printing, letterpress printing, and gravure printing. In addition to paper, the substrates include plastics, metals, and paint films. The most outstanding characteristics of UV/EB inks compared to traditional solvent inks are the same as those of UV coatings: quick drying, environmental protection, energy saving, and high quality.



In fact, radiation curing has become an irreplaceable application in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards, large-scale integrated circuits, digital cameras, compact discs (CD-ROMs, DVDs), mobile phones, liquid crystal displays, and plasma displays. The technology can complete various tasks such as painting, printing, painting and gluing in the production process. Radiation curing is now breaking new ground in the automotive manufacturing and construction materials industries. It is no exaggeration to say that radiation curing has now entered the daily lives of millions of households and ordinary people, although not everyone can directly realize this.



UV curing is the most widely used in radiation curing. UV coatings are much larger than UV inks and UV adhesives. It is worth noting that the maximum thickness of the UV-curing paint is 50um and 130um for varnish. At this time, electron beam (EB) can make up for the lack of UV curing, EB curing on the maximum penetration of the paint can reach 400um, while the varnish is up to 500um. However, it should be noted that the application scale of EB curing is currently only 10% of UV curing, mainly because one-time investment of EB curing equipment is much higher than that of UV equipment.

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