Visem Technodag 18.06.

2013

Radiation Curing of Coatings:

From Traditional UV Curing to Prospective
Coating Applications with NIRPhotopolymers
Christian Schmitz

Radiation Curing
ultraviolet
UV-C / UV-B / UV-A

visible
380nm

(near)infrared
(N)IR
780nm

light source: mercury arc lamp

coated substrate

wavelength

- fast curing by highintensive, UV emitting

light sources
- reduce of organic
solvents

environmentally-friendly
technology

UV-Curing vs. Thermal Curing

- solvents reduce viscosity
- thermal-induced
crosslinking of resin

heat

- simultaneous
evaporating of the
solvents

- crosslinking of resin and

reactive solvents

UV

- no evaporating of
reactive solvents
- solvent

- resin

UV-Curing via Radical and/or Cationic

Polymerization
I

- Initiator

UV-radiation

I
generate high-reactive
species

- reactive resin/solvent

- UV-radiation absorption of initiator and

photochemistry generates radicals/cations
- increase of network density by chain
reaction
- solidifies coating resulting in film-formation

growing by
chain reaction

--> fast proceeding in every step

--> short curing period

I

...

Applications of UV-Curing
Advantages specify the field of application
- printing-ink
- wood coating

--> heat sensitve substrate; high output

- powder coating

--> economic aspect

More and more applications

are going to switch to these

energy-saving technologies!

*www.kem.de/konstruktion/-/article/30599594/31436464/maximized/

Limitations of UV-Curing-Systems
radiation

- curing is influenced by thickness of coating

--> loss of adhesion

coating layer

- critical for depth-curing particular if system contains UV-absorbing

components
- optimized OD for a system with no bleaching: 0.43
- inhibition of curing process by atmospheric oxygen
- need of safety installations
--> risk for operator (eyes, skin) caused by UV-radiation

Selection of Light Sources

- emission must fit the absorbance of the initiator

- energy-efficiency by maximal overlapping

Research HS-Niederrhein: NIRPhotopolymerization and new Light Sources

-

(n)ir-radiation well-known as thermal-energy source

shift of the absorption

--> solve problems of competing absorption in the UV-range

initiatorsystem consists of two components

coinitiator
generates radicals

sensitizer
absorbing component

380nm

ultraviolet
UV-C / UV-B / UV-A

780nm

visible

wavelength

(near)infrared
(N)IR

UV-curing vs. NIR-Curing

UV
- high sensitivity

NIR
- yellow, red and blue pigmented
coatings

- established curing system

- curing of layers upto several mm in
just one step

- NIR-light uncritical in handling

- problematic with pigments or
light stabilizers

- unknown to coating-technology
- less sensitive than UV-systems

- harmful UV-light
- requires safety light shielding

Research HS-Niederrhein: NIRPhotopolymerization and New Light Sources

IR-radiant heater

- wide range of emission

- small amount of usable emission

NIR-LED arrays

- small range of emission suitable to

the sensitizer
- low intensity
- requires development of more
intensive LEDs in different
wavelengths including UV, visible
and NIR

Laser technology as NIR Light Sources

diode laser bars

x,y modulated laser or objekt

Diode laser
-

laser spot emission needs

modification for exposure of large
areas

x,y-modulation of the emitter

homogenous laserlines

*Beier; Laser Technik Journal Vol 8, No.2 (2011)

*Homburg et al.; Proc. of SPIE Vol 6216 (2006)

line generator

NIR-Photopolymerization in Powder Coating

Technology
- first experiments with NIRpolymerizable powder coatings
(at 110C)

- state of the arts: two-step curing

process

application

melting process
< 120C

radiation curing

- diode laser for dual process technology

--> melting by energy absorption and
curing process simultaneously

Acknowledgement
- BMWi (ZIM cooperation project, grant # KF2914003BN2)

- University of Applied Sciences (start up funding)

- County of NRW (scientific equipment program)
- FEW Chemicals GmbH (supplying of NIR sensitizers)

Thank you for your attention!