Zero VOC Sunlight Curable Coatings

By Huilei Zhang, John L. Massingill, James T. Woo

Energy-curing is the essentially instantaneous conversion of a usually liquid, low-viscosity combination of reactive ingredients into a crosslinked, polymerized mass—a process often termed “cure”—by exposure to a radiation energy source. Crosslinking is necessary to provide the desired properties, such as chemical resistance, solvent resistance, flexibility, and adhesion.

The radiation source is usually an ultraviolet light or an electron beam.¹ Radiation cured systems have wide and growing acceptance in the coating, ink, adhesive, and sealant areas because of high performance characteristics, desirable environmental considerations, low energy requirements, and small space requirements.^2-4

Curing of one-pack coatings by exposure to visible light for a few hours would be a useful innovation for architectural, industrial, and maintenance coatings as well as for large objects that would be difficult to heat but easy to shine a light on.