Radiation curing is, nowadays, a well-established technology which develops and grows rapidly on an industrial scale. Originally, the most emergent applications were related to the UV-curing of coatings.
Curing and imaging processes, based on photogeneration of acid, have not as yet achieved the commercial significance of corresponding free radical processes. Several reasons for this may be advanced including the development of photoinitiators for cationic polymerization was preceded
A number of studies have been carried out to investigate the photo-oxidation and photoyellowing phenomena which occur in various multifunctional acrylated systems. The complex formulations of radiation curable resins complicate our understanding of the mechanisms involved.
Electoron beam curing technique has been studied in manufacturing resin stampers for embossed holograms. Several EB curable resins were tested and evaluated from measuring diffraction efficiencies of holograms embossed with these resin stampers.
A brief summary of both free radical and cationic radiation curing chemistry is provided. Historical reasons for the rapid growth of this technology are reviewed, and a number of recent and emerging applications are discussed.
n the year 1974 the founder of iie, Mr. Ekkehard Kreß worked as a free-lance design engineer on electronic lamp ballasts. Milestones of his developments were: -1976 the first commercial battery ballast for 200W HMI (portable reporter lamp)
Environmental protection requirements but also advantages in the quality and processability have up to now lead to a rapid increase of EB/UV curing paint systems in the printing industry.
In the regulatory affairs section, you can find an overview of EU legislation relevant to UV and EB curing technology and our initiatives for the industry.
