Coatings World - April 2015

Coatings World: Can you describe the basic technology behind radiation curable coatings?

Mike Idacavage: The technology behind radiation curable coat-
ings can be thought of as changing the way a coating is cured.
In radiation curable coatings, UV energy, visible light, or low
energy electrons (EB) are used to form a coating, film or ink
as opposed to thermal, evaporative, or oxidative (air-dry) cure.
Another way to think of this technology when it comes to coat-
ings is that we are now using light instead of heat (ovens) to
solidify the liquid coatings formulations to the desired solid
coatings required for many applications. Of course, to make this
happen there are some necessary changes that has to be made in
the coatings formulations such as the addition of photoinitiators
to react with the light and re-
active resin materials that will
then cure with the photoini-
tiators. However, the overall
concept can be thought of as
substituting light for heat in
curing a coating.

CW: What are the benefits/
advantages of using radiation
curable coatings?
Idacavage: As you might
imagine, there are quite a few

Coatings World recently had the opportunity to interview, Dr. Mike J. Idacavage, an adjunct associate professor at SUNY-ESF in Syracuse, NY who teaches courses in UV and EB curing technology. In this interview, he answers some questions on the basic technology and applications for radiation curable coatings and technology.