Preface

Curing a car coating as fast as lightning dream or becoming reality soon? Few ash lights are sufcient to completely convert falling drops of liquid UV-curable materials into hard balls before they reach the table top. This experiment has been recorded for a 3sat TV documentation and is depicted in the different stages in Figure P1. UVcurable formulations respond so fast to a complete phase change from liquid to solid because the radiation employed forms an active species as initiator for a catalytic curing reaction. The predominantly used radiation out of the electromagnetic spectrum is in the UV (wavelength range: 200 to 400 nm). Such liquid formulations applied to a substrate are termed UV-curable coatings and after curing upon UV exposure solid UV-cured coating are generated. The traditional applications of UV coatings are on thermo-sensitive substrates, like wood and paper. Since UV curing is a very eco-efcient and low-energy curing method, the growth rates of UV-curable coatings are in the range of 10% per year. The typical UV coatings containing multifunctional oligomers are solvent free (100% solids), thus helping industry to reduce signicantly emissions into the atmosphere and hence protect the environment. Recently, the automotive industry has discovered that UV-cured coatings are very scratch resistant, which stimulated very extensive work into the development of UV coatings for automotive applications. This book reviews in a comprehensive fashion the basics of the technology, describing the decision process from the application requirements over the choice of the appropriate chemistry, the raw materials (resins, diluents, photoinitiators) and formulations employed, to the curing process including network formation as well as the equipment necessary. Not only the advantages but also the drawbacks of this fast emerging technology are discussed together with proposed technical solutions to tackle these disadvantages. The main part will focus extensively on recent developments, like UV powder coatings, dual cure systems, curing under inert conditions or UV plasma curing and new applications, like DVD bonding, ink-jet printing and various automotive applications. These new systems are extending the application areas considerably, for example to the curing of three-dimensional substrates. These progressions will enable applications in the automotive industry, at rst on trim parts, then for coating repair and nally in OEM car body coating. The last chapter addresses health, safety and environmental (HSE) aspects, which are of considerable importance not only to the manufacturers and operators, but also to the end users. Furthermore, manufactures, suppliers and end users have to respond to current and emerging chemical regulations, like REACH, VOC- and Food-Contact legislation. The ecological and economical benets of the UV-curing technology are demonstrated on some examples using the tool of eco-efciency analysis.
v

vi

UV COATINGS BASICS, RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND NEW APPLICATIONS

F IG . P1. Flash light curing of a falling UV-curable drop.

The televised experiment shows impressively the potential of UV-curable coatings. Not only the very fast curing speed, but also the low curing temperature, as well as the solvent free composition of the formulations are the highlights of this technology. UV curing has the potential to replace thermal hardening as the curing technology of the future.

PREFACE

vii

The author appreciates the contributions of several colleagues working in the eld of UV technology for providing text, gures, discussions and/or corrections of the manuscript and thanks especially the experts in specic elds for their help in the design and revisal of the corresponding chapters: Rainer Kniger (GE Plastics) Heinz-Hilmar Bankowsky (BASF AG) Nick Gruber (BASF AG) Oscar Lafuente (BASF AG) Erich Beck (BASF AG) Rolf Mller (IST-Metz) Bernward Rttgers (Fusion Corp.) Nazire Dogan (AKZO Nobel Coatings) Thomas Fey (DuPont Performance Coatings) Chapter 2: Christian Decker (Mulhouse) and Richard W. Stowe (Fusion Corp.) Chapter 3: Georg Meichsner (FH Esslingen) Chapter 5: Wolfgang Schrof, Klaus Menzel (BASF AG) Chapter 10: Michael Kutschera (BASF AG), Andreas Poppe (BASF Coatings), Bradley Richards (BASF Corp.)