EB+UV for Coil Coating

Coil Coatings Technical Session @ RadTech 2024

The RadTech Coil Coatings Technical Session at RadTech 2024, featured presentations by:

• Pauline Maillot, Beckers Groups, A new perspective for UV/EB Coating
• Marcus Hutchins, allnex, UV/EB and Coil: A Marital Bliss

Coil Coatings Panel Discussion @ RadTech 2024

The event featured a panel discussion on coil coatings, sponsored by the National Coil Coatings Association (NCCA) featuring:

This panel discussion spotlighted groundbreaking advancements in EB and UV coil coatings, highlighting their ability to redefine industry benchmarks through fast crosslinking, compatibility with heat-sensitive materials, and a marked decrease in energy use versus traditional methods.

Notes from the panel:

• The clear consensus from the panel is that EB & UV-curable paints and coatings are available and ready to address practical to integrate EB & UV equipment on an existing line while gaining experience with this new process.
• During the discussion, panelists confirmed that a coil coatings line can advantageously be converted to EB+UV while maintaining or increasing line speed and replacing large ovens, which also require important maintenance throughout their lifespan. Coatings require full reformulation, and a variety of raw materials are already available to meet flexibility/formability, adhesion, and durability challenges and to fuel further materials innovation that will support development activities.
• EB is an essential part of the processing toolbox as it allows the curing of thick, highly pigmented coatings, including white and dark colors. UV curing will however most likely be a very complementary technology to cure clearer and/or thinner layers used in coils, pre-cure certain coatings, and also provide gloss management possibilities.
• EB+UV has the capacity to achieve a step change in the decarbonization of the coil coating process, very significantly reducing the energy required for curing compared to thermally cured formulations and eliminating the use of solvents and their incineration.

• Overall, EB/UV coil coatings technologies align with the industry’s and end users’ desire for more environmentally friendly, lower VOC, and lower energy solutions while delivering an added layer of flexibility, performance, and differentiation to coil-coated products. Fully achieving this industry shift will be and is the result of all parties moving in the same direction. Raw materials manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, coating manufacturers, coaters, and end users–no one group can carry the change alone.