New Developments in Radiation-Curable Powder Coatings

By Saskia Udding-Louwrier, Richard A. Baijards, E. Sjoerd de Jong

Radiation-curable powder coatings are now in the early stages of commercialization. For years, the coatings industry has sought ways to lower the curing temperature of powder coatings. UV-curable powder coatings offer the possibility of curing powder coatings at temperatures as low as 120°C. Radiation-curable powder coatings also offer high cure speed and relatively low energy consumption.

As each application requires its own coating performance, two different maleate-vinyl ether-based binders for UV-curable powder coatings have been developed. With these binders the balance between flexibility and hardness of the coating can be adjusted with proper formulation.

In this paper, the curing characteristics and coating performance of several UV-powder coating formulations are described. In addition, a comparison between conventional powder coatings and UV-powder coatings is provided.