Ways to Increase Adhesion of UV Coatings On Wood

Coatings on wooden substrates for furniture, flooring and interior are a main application for radiation curing lacquers. An important target for development of UV coatings on wood is to increase adhesion. Superior adhesion leads to better whitening behaviour (coin test) and abrasion resistance. Guidelines to improve adhesion on wood are:
- Swelling of wooden fibres with waterborne UV primers to increase the substrate's surface area
and its interaction with the coating.
- Better wetting of oily surfaces e.g. teak, mahagony or rosewood by using coatings with low
surface tension.
- Chemical crosslinking of coating and substrate. Aspects of the chemistry, application and efficiency of these guidelines will be discussed.