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Recently, as a consequence of environmental legislation, there has been an increasing
trend towards the use of coating systems based on a small amount of
solvents. This requirement is fulfilled to a particularly high degree by radiation curable
paints, lacquers, varnishes and coatings which can be formulated without the
use of conventional solvents. With these so-called 100% systems, the liquid lacquer
or coating is transformed into the solid state by means of UV or electron radiation
in the 0.1 second range.
In 1995, worldwide sales of radiation curable raw materials amounted to approximately
100,000 tons and are increasing at growth rates in two figures. The material
base, i.e. the availability of suitable monomers and oligomers as raw material,
is being expanded all the time by new developments from the leading chemical
companies. In central Europe alone, there are now around 30 companies operating
as formulators of radiation curable paints, lacquers and varnishes. Similarly,
significant advances have been made in terms of the adhesion of the coatings on
critical substrates such as metal and certain polypropylene and polyamide foils. In
addition to the development of monomers which do not irritate the skin or only
very slightly, the improvement of the roll coating and spray coating processes
permits the production of thin coatings. A logical reaction is therefore the development
of a cost-effective low-voltage electron beam accelerator that is especially
suitable for curing thin coatings.
