RAD-CURE
Raw Materials and Equipment
Suppliers continue to develop new offerings to
improve and expand the use of UV and EB formulations.
The overall market for UV-cured coatings is growing
faster than the general coatings market itself, at the expense of
older technologies.
After the last two years of raw material and product supply shortages, the
market is back to a relatively balanced
position, according to Paul Elias, business director of specialty products,
Sartomer Company. “Now that the raw
material shortages have diminished,
customers are back to looking for lower
and better performance,” he said. “As a
result, we continue to seek and develop
opportunities for growth into application areas that are not currently utilizing this technology. In addition, Rad Tech
continues to promote the use of UV/EB
into emerging markets, highlighting its
economic and performance benefits.”
If trade shows are any indication of
how well a market is faring, there was
good news this spring in Chicago, when
a record number of attendees showed
up for RadTech’s e| 5 exposition. By
the end of the first day, e| 5 already
reached the attendance figures from
the 2004 showcase in Charlotte, NC.
“With rising energy costs, increasing
international competition and continuing enviormental concerns, manufacturers are increasingly looking to UV
and EB technology to address these
challenges,” said David Harbourne,
RadTech president, and president of
Fusion UV. “Our event highlighted this
technology’s tremendous enabling versatility, with a broad cross-section of
manufacturers in attendance including firms engaged in the production of
motor vehicles, food packaging, ink jet
production, aerospace and defense,
wood, metals, plastics and electronics.”
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
FROM INDUSTRY SUPPLIERS
At Rad Tech, Sartomer launched 23 new
oligomers and three new monomers. The
oligomers fall into seven different categories including aliphatic urethane acrylate oligomers, specialty oligo-mer/monomer blends, acrylic mono-mer/tackifier blends, brominated aromatic acrylate oligomers, hyperbranched
polyester acrylate oligomers and acrylic
oligomers. These products are designed
for a variety of high-performance applications including coatings for spray, plastic, paper, wood and hardcoat, electronics, metal and deco applications. The
three new monomers consist of mono-and multi-functional acrylates designed
for various applications including adhesives and plastic coatings.
“These latest developments from
our technical group feature a series of
