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Although UV curing of acrylic pressure sensitive adhesives is known for more than 30 years, the
interest has grown rapidly in the last years 1]. The challenge to develop adhesive coatings free from organic solvents, while retaining the performance properties of solvent-based acrylic, is the major motivation in the concept of UV curing, It has been always a difficult task to develop a suitable solvent-free system with all the benefits in variability of the conventional solventbome technique.
Moreover the solvent technology is extremely established in the tape industry. The adhesive
performance can be customized in a wide range by monomer composition, crosslinking, molecular weight, and additional modifiers, like tackifier resin, softeners and fillers. In addition the resistance to oxidation, transparency, colorless appearance even upon exposure to sunlight make acrylics the preferred material for labels and especially industrial tapes 2]. However, increasing expenses in solvents, solvent recovery, relatively slow speed of coating especially for thick coatings, and the demand in innovative products force the manufactures and raw material suppliers to develop new technologies for PSA tapes. Recent activities in the field of UV curing have resulted in very promising solutions to combine ecological and economical needs of the adhesive industry. The field of UV curing can be divided into two different concepts: the UV-polymerization of monomer containing systems and the UV crosslinking of acrylic polymers. Some of the most characteristic milestones are discussed in more detail.