Coatings World - April 2013

Corrosion Resistant Applications,” comparing aliphatic (ALUA) and aromatic (ARUA) urethane acrylate oligomers.

“UV/EB curable coatings based on aromatic backbone
structure resist corrosion better than their aliphatic ana-
logs,” Schaeffer concluded. “Aromatic urethanes are generally
superior to aliphatic, but there are exceptions based on back-
bone structure.”
Dan Montoney of Rapid Cure Technologies, which develops
and manufactures unique resins, coatings, inks and adhesives,
discussed the field of metal coil coatings in his presentation on
“UV/EB Curable Coatings for Metal Coil Coating Application.”
Montoney said that the metal coil finishing field has yet to
widely adopt UV/EB curing, in spite of its advantages. One key
disadvantage to UV/EB curing for metal coil is its overall cost
vs. performance, and Montoney noted that there is a lack of real
world and accelerated testing data. He does believe that EB cur-
ing has a place in the market.

“EBcurable raw materials and formulations have been
shown to meet or exceed many coil coating performance specifi-
cations,” Montoney said. “However, all evaluation must be car-
ried out on actual substrate to prove performance and achieve a
high confidence level. EB curing is a viable finishing technology
for coil coating and provides numerous benefits.”
Metal coil coatings were also discussed by Karl Swanson
of PCT Engineered Systems and Kevin Joesel of Fusion UV

$OEHUGLQJN;%ROH\;RIIHUV;D; ZDWHU;EDVHG;89;FXUDEOH; SRO\XUHWKDQH;GLVSHUVLRQ; VXLWDEOH;IRU;FOHDU;DQG; SLJPHQWHG;ZRRG;DV; ZHOO;DV;SODVWLF;FRDWLQJV;¬ )HDWXUHV;LQFOXGH;¬ )HDWXUHV;LQFOXGH;¬ JRRG;ZRRG;ZDUPLQJ;; H[FHOOHQW;FKHPLFDO; DQG;VWDLQ;UHVLVWDQFH;; H[FHOOHQW;VFUDWFK;UHVLVWDQFH; DQG;YHU\;IDVW;ZDWHU;UHOHDVH; /8;;;;;

Systems, who collaborated on “UV/EB Technology for Metal
Coil Coatings.”
“UV/EB coil coating technology offers substantial energy
savings and carbon footprint reductions, but challenges remain
with coating costs and performance,” Swanson and Joesel not-
ed. “The best fit for new UV/EB coil coating installations may
be for fabricators looking to produce their own coated metal.”
In-field curing is an opportunity for radcure coatings.
In his talk on “Advantages of UV Curing in Composite
Manufacturing,” Dr. Jonathan Shaw of Cytec Coating Resins
noted that UV technology is moving out of the plant and into
the field in areas such as wood, concrete and vinyl composition
tile (VCT), and he sees similar possibilities for composites.

“UV composite curing is starting to move that way as well,” Dr. Shaw said, pointing to in field repair of concrete bridges and supports and wind turbine blades. “The driver is fast return to service.” There are upcoming opportunities to see how UV/EB can be used in the coatings field. With a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), Rad Tech, in partnership with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) Institute for Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing, will hold uv.eb EAST 2013 from Oct. 1-2, 2013 in Syracuse, NY.