
Coatings is the largest outlet for radiation-cured products representing about three-quarters of the worldwide volume in 2005 and over one-half of the dollars. Wood (furniture and flooring) is the leading coating outlet in volume and dollars, with Europe consuming about 40% of the total volume. Paper overprints is the second largest coating application, with North America the leading outlet taking 40% of the total tonnage. Optical fibers, CDs, PVC flooring, release and other plastic substrates are other leading coating outlets.
Inks consumed just fewer than 20% of the radcure tons but nearly 40% of total money. Offset and screen inks combined represented over 90% of the volume. Radiation-cured inkjet inks were a miniscule portion of the weight, but 3% of the total. Inkjet inks are forecast to surge in usage in the upcoming years.
Adhesives comprised 5% of the global volume and 9% of total dollars. DVD lamination made up nearly 40% of the adhesive volume and dollars. CDs and DVDs are leading consumers of radiation-cured products, with over $300 MM of coatings, adhesives and inks being used to make these products in 2005. Numerous small volume assembly adhesive applications took 8% of the adhesive weight but over one-third of the dollars.
The above information is contained in Kusumgar, Nerlfi & Growney's study "Radiation-Cured Products, 2005-2010." The 600-page study is available through subscription. For more information, call (973) 439-0030 or e-mail nerlfikng@cs.com .