Efficient Curing of Performance Coatings Using High Peak Irradiance UV Light

UV curable systems continue to penetrate new markets and succeed in an increasing
number and variety of applications. These applications pose challenges for the end
user, the formulator and the UV equipment supplier, to meet ever higher standards for
cure performance and efficiency. Over the past years much effort has been centred on
improvements in new materials to achieve better performance. However, there are a
number of factors, outside the formulation itself which can affect the cure performance of
a UV process. The key elements of the UV curing equipment are:-

UV Dose, mJ/cm2 the total energy arriving at a surface per unit area. It
is inversely proportional to the speed under the light source and proportional to the
number of exposures.

UV Irradiance, W/cm2 the radiant power arriving at a surface per unit area. It
is a characteristic of the lamp and geometry of the reflector system and does not vary
with speed. The intense, focused peak directly under the lamp is referred to as "peak
irradiance" Although not a defined term, "intensity" is commonly used to refer to
irradiance.

Spectral Distribution relative radiant energy as function of wavelength