UV curing technology is a new technology facing the 21st century with high efficiency, environmental protection, energy saving and high quality. It is widely used in coatings, adhesives, inks, optoelectronics and other fields. Since the first UV curing ink patent was obtained by American inmont company in 1946 and the first generation of UV curing wood coatings was developed by German Bayer company in 1968, UV curing coatings have developed rapidly all over the world. In recent decades, a large number of new and efficient photoinitiators, resins, monomers and advanced UV light sources have been applied to UV curing, which has promoted the development of UV curing coating industry.
Light curing technology refers to the technology that takes light as energy and decomposes photoinitiators through light to produce active species such as free radicals or ions. These active species initiate monomer polymerization and quickly convert it from liquid to solid polymer. It is called green technology because of its advantages of low energy consumption (1 / 5 to 1 / 10 of thermal polymerization), fast speed (completing the polymerization process in a few seconds to tens of seconds), no pollution (no solvent volatilization), etc.
At present, China has become one of the largest application countries of photopolymerization materials, and its development in this field has attracted international attention. In today’s increasingly serious environmental pollution, it is very important to develop pollution-free and environment-friendly photopolymerization technology. According to statistics, the global annual release of hydrocarbons to the atmosphere is about 20 million tons, most of which are organic solvents in coatings. The organic solvent discharged into the atmosphere in the process of coating manufacturing is 2% of the coating production, and the volatile organic solvent in the process of coating use is 50% ~ 80% of the coating production. In order to reduce pollution emissions, UV curing coatings are gradually replacing traditional heat curing coatings and solvent based coatings.
With the continuous progress of light curing technology, its application field will be gradually expanded. The early light curing technology was mainly in coatings, because the penetration and absorption of light in colored systems could not be solved at that time. However, with the development of photoinitiators and the improvement of light source power, light curing technology can gradually meet the needs of different ink systems, and light curing ink has developed rapidly. In recent years, with the continuous progress of light curing technology, it can penetrate into other fields. Due to the progress of basic research, the understanding of the basic mechanism of light curing is more in-depth, and the changes of social environment will also put forward new requirements for light curing technology, which can be innovated and developed.
UV curing coatings include:
UV curable bamboo and wood coatings: as a characteristic product in China, UV curable coatings are mostly used for bamboo furniture and bamboo flooring. The proportion of UV coating of various floors in China is very high, which is one of the important uses of UV coating.
UV curable paper coating: as one of the earliest UV coating varieties, UV paper polishing coating is applied in various printed materials, especially on the cover of advertisements and publications. At present, it is still a large variety of UV coating.
UV curable plastic coatings: plastic products need to be coated in order to meet the requirements of beauty and durability. There are many kinds of UV plastic coatings with great differences in requirements, but most of them are decorative. The most common UV plastic coatings are the shells of various household appliances and mobile phones.
Light curing vacuum coating: in order to increase the texture of packaging, the most common method is to metallize plastics through vacuum evaporation. UV primer, finish coat and other products are required in this process, which is mainly used for cosmetic packaging.
UV curable metal coatings: UV curable metal coatings include UV antirust primer, UV curable metal temporary protective coating, metal UV decorative coating, metal UV surface protective coating, etc.
UV curing optical fiber coating: the production of optical fiber needs to be coated for 4-5 times from the bottom to the surface. At present, almost all of them are finished by UV curing. UV optical fiber coating is also the most successful example of UV curing application, and its UV curing speed can reach 3000 m / min.
Light curing conformal coating: for outdoor products, especially electronic products, they need to withstand the test of natural environment changes such as wind and rain. In order to ensure the long-term normal use of products, electrical appliances need to be protected. UV conformal coating is developed for this application, aiming at prolonging the service life and stability of electrical appliances.
Light curing glass coating: the decoration of the glass itself is very poor. If the glass needs to produce color effect, it needs to be coated. UV glass coating came into being. This kind of product has high requirements for aging resistance, acid and alkali resistance. It is a high-end UV product.
UV curable ceramic coatings: in order to increase the aesthetics of ceramics, surface coating is required. At present, UV coatings applied to ceramics mainly include ceramic inkjet coatings, ceramic flower paper coatings, etc.
Light curing stone coating: natural stone will have various defects. In order to improve its beauty, the stone needs to be modified. The main purpose of light curing stone coating is to repair the defects of natural stone, with high requirements for strength, color, wear resistance and aging resistance.
UV curing leather coating: UV leather coating has two categories. One is UV leather release coating, which is used for the preparation of artificial leather pattern paper, and its dosage is very large; The other is the decorative coating of leather, which changes the appearance of natural or artificial leather and enhances its decoration.
Light curing automotive coatings: light curing technology will be used for lamps from inside to outside. Lamp bowls and Lampshades need to be coated through light curing technology; Light curing technology is used in a large number of parts in the interior and exterior decoration of automobile, such as instrument panel, rear-view mirror, steering wheel, gear handle, wheel hub, interior trim strip, etc; The bumper of automobile is prepared by light curing technology, and the surface coating is also completed by light polymerization; Light curing materials are also needed for the preparation of a large number of automotive electronic components, such as on-board display, central control board and so on; The anti-aging coating on the surface of the popular car clothes is also completed by light curing technology; The automobile body coating has achieved light curing; Light curing technology will also be used in automobile paint film repair and glass damage repair.
Post time: Apr-15-2022
