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The major uses of radiation-curable coatings are printing inks, wood coatings and electronic
components, all of which are interior applications. In order to encourage the use of radiationcurable
coatings in outdoor applications, PRA has been involved in a project (50% funded
by UK Government's ETIS initiative and supported by 14 radcure companies) to determine
the criteria important for the durability of UV cured coatings.
One of the problems with UV curable coatings on outdoor exposure is poor adhesion to a
variety of non-porous substrates. An explanation often considered for this failing is the
shrinkage caused by rapid polymerisation of a solventless system with the absence of
relaxation. Shrinkage is caused by the van der Waals distances between molecules being
replaced by shorter C-C covalent bonds during the polymerisation process. The rapid
shrinkage is thought to be detrimental to the keying of the coating into the rough substrate
surface.
