Effective curing of ultraviolet (UV) adhesives is an important aspect in the assembly and manufacturing of many products. Historically, mercury arc lamps have been used as the curing source in a range of industrial applications and processes to polymerize adhesives, coatings, and inks. However, newer light-emitting diode (LED) solutions have demonstrated the ability to overcome a number of limitations of older mercury lamps by reducing operational costs through longer lifespans, decreasing electrical consumption, increasing reliability, and minimizing heating of substrates. In addition, they provide environmental and safety benefits by eliminating mercury and ozone emissions, which are a concern with the mercury lamps.
UV LED technology has traditionally been faced with a number of barriers that have prevented wide-scale commercial adoption, including high cost and limited availability, low output and efficiency, and formulation compatibility. With advancements in UV LED technology, along with a wider range of LED-compatible formulations available, the use of UV LEDs for adhesive, coating and ink curing has increased.