Curing

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Energy is a significant cost of production. As energy costs rise, it becomes more difficult to pass on the increases to customers in the price of products and services. Regardless of current energy costs and trends, however, an energy-efficient process is more competitive.

The world continues to embrace initiatives fostering more environmentally friendly “green” processes, and the converting industry is not exempt from this pursuit. All aspects of the converting process are being scrutinized, including the need to make the adhesives and sealants component of converting more environmentally friendly.

Ultraviolet (UV) coatings are cured by UV light. They contain almost no solvents that may evaporate during the curing process. Instead, the UV curing process is achieved through polymerization—a crosslinking reaction of the coating constituents.

The photo curing extent of styrenic block copolymer (SBC)-based adhesive formulations applied as a uniform layer on a Mylar film can be readily determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).