Price: 10.00
Introduction
Textiles'may need to be coated for a number of reasons, such as ensuring
watertightness or windtightness (1]. Sometimes, it is necessary to improve
chemical and wear resistanthe or to enhance'the decorative qualities of
cloth. Textiles are also used in applications where the coating is primarily
responsible for the functional properties of the finished product and
the cloth merely acts as a carrier to ensure the required strength, as is
the case with shower curtains.
Although UV curing technology is already used in a range of industries, it
is still rather new to the textile world, which has traditionally relied
on solvent or water based resin coatings. Coatings of this type have the
particular disadvantage that they are time-consuming to process. After
such coatings have been applied to textile substrates, the solvent or
water has to be evaporated. In the following, stage the resin is cured by
the application of heat, which induces crosslinking of the molecular
structure. It is evident that such a two-stage.procedure not only uses
more energy, but also requires a larger processing unit. Moreover, solvent
based systems can pose a significant threat to the environment.
In contrast, UV technology offers the. following advantages over conventio-
nal coating techniques:
- low energy consumption;
- low environmental pollution;
- enhanced process integration;
- fast curing and processing;
- compact equipment withlow fabric contents;
- short start-up times;
- heat-sensitive substrates can be coated;
- thick coating layers can.be applied in a one-step process;
- double sided coatings can be applied in a single operation.
