The world’s largest event dedicated to the educational, technical, and scientific advancement of ultraviolet (UV) and electron beam (EB) technologies.
Dr. Mike J. Idacavage, Radical Curing, LLC
*Open to all attendees
Paolo Betti, IGM Resins USA Inc.
Self-curing resins represent a significant advancement in the field of polymeric materials in UV technology. Due to the increasing regulatory concerns linked to certain classes of low molecular weight photoinitiators, the development of formulations based on resins with built-in initiation capability has become an attractive alternative. Unlike conventional formulations that require photoinitiators to start the radical polymerization of acrylated resins, self-curing resins carry a functional group that can convert UV-energy into radicals, eliminating the need to add a photoinitiator to the formulation. This presentation will show results of a new glyoxylate self-curing resin, suitable for LED curing in a wide range of applications.
David Kent Whitinger, Applied Molecules, LLC.
In this paper we will explore the rapidly emerging technology of high-viscosity UV and Light cured resins designed for composite repair applications. Specifically pin-hole repair, composite part repair and composite mold repair.
These resins are gaining commercial attention for several reason, but the main reason is they can be applied on vertical or curved surfaces – hold their shape and then be cured within seconds of being exposed to simple inexpensive UV or visible light sources.
Commercially, UV / Light curing resin materials would present production advantages because they can be sanded and painted essentially immediately after application. Traditional, repair materials can take 20 minutes up to several hours depending on size and depth of the repair
Possibly the most important characteristic is that these materials DO NOT SHRINK. Traditional repair resins often require multiple applications due to shrinkage when cured. UV and light cured materials can require “layering” depending on the depth of fill required.
Yiwei Dai, Henkel Corporation
UV cure chemistry is widely used in adhesive and coating industrial for its distinct advantages, including but not limited in high cure rates, easy procedures and low-energy consumption. However, insufficient cure in the areas which cannot be reached by UV light becomes a significant drawback limiting its applications. Many dual cure technologies have been developed to overcome the limitation, and the combination of UV cure and moisture cure is one of the most popular solutions for its energy-saving feature. UV curable cyanoacrylates (UVCAs) have been developed with special photoinitiator package to perform UV cure. And they can still undergo anionic polymerization initiated by moisture no matter whether there is UV or not. Isocyanate-containing light-cure acrylates (NCO-LCAs) are the other good examples of UV-moisture dual cure technologies. NCO-LCA obtains shadow cure ability by introducing isocyanate function groups into the system. In this paper, we are presenting a study and comparison of these two dual-cure technologies, UVCA and NCO-LCA, in the mechanical properties, the degree of cure, and the cure mechanisms under different curing conditions. The progress in modification of UVCA is discussed as well.
Peter Cop, Excelitas Technologies
UV LED curing systems are recognized for their advantages over legacy curing techniques by improving energy efficiency, reducing excess heat, creating a safer workplace, and enhancing environmental sustainability. UV LED curing processes are growing rapidly, and groundbreaking innovations continue to expand capabilities in various applications. We will discuss the most recent developments with highlights on system performance, scalability, applications, and manufacturing process quality.
Carlton Gibson, Seoul Viosys
As UV LED product portfolios continue to make efficiency gains, system designers will increasingly need to choose between utilizing a small number of high-powered devices or a large number of low power devices. This study provides insight on how uniformity requirements of UV LED arrays at various working distances are impacted by decisions on array density. By utilizing optical ray tracing software to analyze various cases, recommendations are made on tailoring solutions to particular needs.
Marko Hofmann, Seoul Viosys
Various applications require large format UV tunnels. Some with up to 2 meters in width and a length of 10 meters and more.
Due to the size) and required irradiation levels of such systems, mostly low to mid power Mercury based lamp technology was used. New developments in UV-LED package and assembly technology as well as smart driving and cooling concepts make these applications applicable to semiconductor based light sources.
We will give an overview of factors that have to be considered in order to achieve best uniformities for large scale systems and optimized life-time for stable processes throughout decades of operation.
Michael Karst, MSG Lithoglas GmbH
UVC-LEDs are becoming increasingly important in industrial curing applications, but their low efficiency remains a key barrier to replacing traditional mercury-based UVC lamps. The inefficiency is primarily due to internal losses within the LED and suboptimal light extraction from the packaged device. Previous studies have demonstrated that using miniaturized mirror elements close to the LED significantly increases light output and enhances thermal performance, thereby extending device lifetimes. This improvement is achieved by recovering a large amount of light emitted from the LED die edges.
Current high-power UVC-LED modules rely on either arrays of individually packaged LEDs or multi-chip packaging. The former requires a larger footprint, while the latter suffers from thermal challenges due to side-emitted light causing self-heating. We propose a novel approach using integrated mirror arrays that enable efficient multi-chip packages with high power density. Each LED is optically insulated from the others, ensuring optimal optical performance. This solution achieves a two-fold improvement in the performance/cost ratio, while maintaining the standard 3535 package outline, making it ideal for compact, high-efficiency UVC-LED modules. Our technology offers a viable path for overcoming efficiency barriers, thereby facilitating wider adoption of UVC-LEDs in industrial applications
Jeff Stansbury, University of Colorado
This study investigates key performance properties available when common di- or multi-urethane monomers or oligomers are formulated with a variety of monourethane (meth)acrylates used as alternative reactive diluents. This approach allows independent control of both the covalent network density and the urethane content, which provides effective noncovalent reinforcement in these photopolymers. Application areas include additive manufacturing and coatings where lower viscosity resins can provide improved processing efficiencies and higher conversion but unlike resins prepared with conventional reactive diluents, a high urethane concentration can be preserved. Along with viscosity control, monourethane diluents can be used to increase or decrease the overall reactive vinyl group densities in formulations. They can also be used to tailor the modulus, strength and toughness of the photocured, urethane-rich polymers. The comparison of conventional mono-vinyl or divinyl diluent comonomers versus monourethanes as diluents highlights the beneficial effects of maintaining a high urethane content when formulating for robust photopolymer materials.
Derek L. Patton, University of Southern Mississippi
This work demonstrates photoinduced thiol-catalyzed hydrogen abstraction and β-scission of acyclic benzylidene acetals as an innovative strategy to “command-destruct” polymer thermosets. Poly(thioether acetal) networks, synthesized via thiol-ene photopolymerization, degrade rapidly into alkyl benzoate byproducts upon light exposure, transitioning from solid to liquid within seconds. This dual-mode photochemistry enables rapid photopolymerization and photodegradation with a single light source, leveraging the distinct kinetics of radical-mediated polymerization and thiol-catalyzed β-scission. The process relies on stoichiometrically imbalanced thiol-ene formulations, where residual free thiols in the network are essential for efficient degradation. Substituent effects were investigated to modulate photodegradation rates. Spatial control was achieved using photolithography to pattern thermoset degradation, while wavelength-selective degradation was demonstrated with a violet light-sensitive photoinitiator. Furthermore, thermal protecting groups were introduced to excess thiols, creating a dual-trigger “AND” gate requiring both heat and light for activation. This approach to photoinduced command-construct and command-destruct processes shows potential for a range of applications, including degradable adhesives, additive/subtractive manufacturing, and more broadly as environment friendly materials with well-defined end-of-use management strategies.
Christopher Bowman, University of Colorado Boulder
With the advent of photopolymerization-based additive manufacturing, numerous resins, printers and software have been developed, each with the aspiration of improving various aspects of the printing process including speed, resolution, and material properties, among other characteristics. In particular, the potential for additive manufacturing has spawned development of a large variety of printers almost always with different light sources that have different emission spectra, intensities and even sample geometries. While these differences often seem minor, the interactions of the printer light source with the resin are critical and dictate the ultimate performance of the printed part. Herein, we will utilize a comprehensive 4D model of the photopolymerization process to show how different aspects of the printer-resin interaction change the polymerization kinetics, depth of cure, resolution, temperature profile and, as a result, the final material properties. Specifically, polymerizations initiated by wavelength(s) and light intensities typical of several different printers will be simulated for an otherwise identical formulation. Dramatically different depths of cure, temperature excursions, oxygen inhibition layers, and mechanical performance arise due to these simple variations. General guidelines and concepts for utilizing a single formulation on multiple printers will be presented, based on these outcome.
ABHIJIT SARKAR, ULTRA OPTICS
UV Coatings have evolved to protect a broad range of substrates. Many ophthalmic lens laboratories apply a UV curable hard coating to the concave side of a lens that has been surfaced to prescription, or to the convex side of a lens when one or more treatments are to be performed on the lens substrate. One of the main performance characteristics required is excellent scratch and abrasion resistance. The degree of adhesion is contingent upon the chemical nature of both the lens surface and the coating composition, and the degree of adhesion may be measured immediately after cure and after ageing.
In this presentation, we will discuss the advantage of using dual cure formulation system to control the various properties of the final hard coat on the lens materials. The study will look at compatibility of these products in a coating formulation as well as its impact on the scratch resistance measured by several common test methods. The results will provide a comparable overview of how these various technologies perform in improving scratch resistance of the UV coating.
Brian Dillman, IGM Resins USA Inc.
Polyester acrylates are valuable materials to coating formulators in comparison to both epoxy acrylates and urethane acrylates in that they are tin free, BPA free, low cost, low viscosity, and can be low yellowing. There are a broad ranges of material properties within the polyester acrylate family of oligomers: from very low to moderate viscosities, moderate to high crosslink densities, and hydrophilic to hydrophobic materials. The fundamental characteristics of polyester acrylates are discussed in detail including thermal transitions, mechanical properties, water absorption, and shrinkage. Select polyester acrylates are then formulated into clear coat formulations alongside epoxy acrylate and urethane acylate controls and the performance properties are compared in typical industrial coating tests including cure speed, adhesion to metal, mechanical properties, etc.
Nico Morgenbrod, Seoul Viosys
UV LED have shown great success stories in many printing and coating applications, gaining high market adoption.
But several special applications have not been addressable due to technical reasons, even though the benefits would be enormous – safer, quicker, better quality.
With new ink and coating developments and high power UV LED solutions we will show the feasibility of an application, which was unimaginable for UV LED curing before.
We will demonstrate, how a conventional time consuming process of several hours to ensure drying of thick paints before further processing and re-use can be transformed into an immediate solution – minimizing disruption costs.
With a proof of concept backed with field test results, this presentation shows the potential of UV LED in instant curing of thick layers of coating, as well as giving an outlook to the future.
Bill Everett, Power Dream America Inc
UV LED BOOSTER PRINCIPLES
Increase surface cure by attacking slow propagating peroxyl radicals & generating fast
propagating ones.
Efficient chemistries:
Brian Dillman, IGM Resins USA Inc.
Using low modulus and low Tg aliphatic urethane acrylate oligomers as a formulation base tough starting point formulations are developed using multifunctional acrylate monomers as diluents. The equivalent weight, cutting power, and chemical structure of the monomer selected as a diluent determine the suitability of a given monomer in achieving workable viscosity levels and tough cured properties. The thermal transitions of the neat cured monomers of various types are discussed in detail and related to performance properties in the tough starting point formulations.
Michael Bonner, Saint Clair Systems Inc
Every manufacturer is watching the “Industrial Internet of Things” (IIoT) or Industry 4.0 and, of course, Artificial Intelligence (AI). So, if you ask any expert, “What parameters should I actually be controlling?” you’ll often get a quick “All of them!” answer. It’s easy to say, but it isn’t practical.
Despite our ability to monitor every aspect of our environment and process, it comes with a cost. Besides the sensors themselves there’s the supporting network, the processing, the effort and energy costs. Ignoring these up front can result in some unpleasant surprises later.
Moreover, the hype and promise of AI has a powerful allure, which can only be realized if truly understood and carefully implemented – and when it comes to AI, data is king.
In this presentation we will:
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Sasha Novakovich, Alchemy
AI and AI-driven DOE are finally being used in real-time at the bench by chemists and materials scientists, dramatically speeding product development and the overall pace of innovation.
But ask 10 people what AI is, and you will get 10 answers ranging from pure magic to it doesn’t work at all.
In this presentation we will:
Once deployed, the business benefits of running AI at the bench are tremendous. It is reducing product development timelines, increasing market responsiveness, and accelerating time to revenue.
The presentation will conclude with case studies, so you can see examples of actual problems and how they were addressed with AI.
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Jennifer Heathcote, GEW (EC) Limited
Global regulatory policies driven by REACH, RoHS, TSCA/Lautenberg Act, and the Minamata Convention on Mercury as well as regulatory bodies such as the European Commission, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and UN Environment Programme are meant to reduce or eliminate anthropogenic mercury use. While complete mercury elimination is not possible today, restrictions and enforcement are expected to become stricter over time. As a result, legislation and policy should be carefully and periodically reviewed so that steps can be taken to ensure compliance.
This paper provides an update on leading global mercury regulations and explains the upcoming RoHS exemption renewal process for UV curing lamps. The most recent exemption for UV curing lamps is scheduled to expire in early 2027. The practicality of a total ban will be reviewed by the EU in 2026, and a recommendation will be made whether to renew the exemption for another five-year period or adopt a phase-out or phase-down schedule. While mercury-added products have been banned in the EU since 2003, UV curing lamps have been granted recurring exemption status due to the lack of technically feasible and economically viable alternatives across the full range of market applications.
Richard Plenderleith, Arkema
Radiation curing is often thought to be a more sustainable technology due to the reduced energy usage and near zero VOC emissions. Increasing regulation in applications such as food packaging can be a threat to the image of UV curing. As such, innovation of low hazard raw materials and upgrades to existing low hazard products to keep pace with the developing regulation is increasingly important. In this presentation we will investigate the future demands of the regulation and how products features should adapt to meet the future needs.
Shannon Gainey, JM Huber Corporation
The global regulatory landscape is dynamic, with new chemical regulations continually emerging not only at the federal level but also at various local and state levels. These regulations encompass a range of measures, including bans, restrictions, and new laws governing chemical control. Market entry requirements may now necessitate additional chemical registrations, further complicated by the growing influence of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) laws. These ESG laws, such as carbon taxes, plastics restrictions, and extended producer responsibility regulations, are gaining prominence and significantly impacting industries worldwide.
This presentation focuses on key developments within prominent regulatory frameworks like the US Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the EU’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (EU-REACH) regulation, and analogous global chemical regulations. By shedding light on these regulatory changes, the presentation aims to offer valuable insights into potential implications specifically for radiation curable technologies including how current and future restrictions and/or ESG requirements may drive changes in these markets. Tailored for both technical and regulatory professionals, the goal is to provide high-level overviews of some of the major regulatory activities in key regions, offering a comprehensive understanding of their potential effects supply chain.
Veronica Marrero, TotalSDS
In 2024 and 2025, significant global regulatory updates—including OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (HazCom) 2024 and GHS Revisions 7 and 8—will dramatically affect safety data sheet (SDS) requirements, chemical classification, and labeling for hazardous materials. These changes have far-reaching implications for UV/EB technology companies engaged in research and development, product stewardship, and regulatory compliance. The updates introduce new hazard categories, reclassification of flammable gases and aerosols, and requirements for SDS formatting and digital access.
This presentation will provide an in-depth analysis of the regulatory changes, focusing on how they impact safety, compliance, and product innovation for industries utilizing UV/EB technology. Attendees will learn practical strategies for updating SDSs, managing supply chain communications, and ensuring product stewardship to comply with evolving regulations. By understanding these updates, R&D teams can optimize their formulations and technical processes while ensuring regulatory compliance, driving both innovation and safety. This session will offer actionable insights for EHS managers, chemists, and regulatory professionals, equipping them with the knowledge to navigate the evolving landscape.
This abstract highlights the intersection of regulation and industry needs, emphasizing the role of regulatory knowledge in supporting innovation.
Darrin Leonhardt, Ph.D, EIT 2.0 LLC
Measurement at one point of a UV broadband or LED source has been the accepted standard in the UV curing industry, providing a single measurement across an entire substrate regardless of its width. It is assumed that the source is uniform across all areas from a solitary measurement point. What if you were able to just as easily measure in 5, 10 or 15 locations across the substrate in one pass in an easy to use instrument? This presentation will introduce a calibrated radiometer that simultaneously collects the data from the multiple sensors and provides a 2D map along the light source through a custom, easy to use analysis application. Irradiance drops between adjacent light sources, electrically failed LED modules and improperly performing discharge lamp are easily identified and can then be addressed before production issues arise. This presentation will review the initial test results and findings of different sources using a multi-sensor irradiance profiler.
Jeff Hulett, Vektrex
UV LED products must operate for a specified lifetime while maintaining a minimum power output. To ensure these specifications are met, product designers typically rely on datasheet values for thermal resistance and calculate the nominal operating junction temperature (TJ) of the LED. LM-80 projections corresponding to this temperature are then used to estimate performance over the specified lifetime.
However, this industry-standard approach faces several challenges: 1) the product’s solder attachment may differ from the one used to calculate the datasheet’s thermal resistance (Rth), 2) the solder point temperature measurement may be inaccurate, and 3) in-situ thermocouple attachment may be difficult or impossible. These challenges increase the uncertainty in estimating the operating TJ.
To address this uncertainty, designers often build in safety margins by enlarging heatsinks, adding more LEDs to reduce drive currents, or lowering the product’s lifetime or power claims. While effective, these mitigation strategies are costly—they increase product size and cost, and they reduce the product’s competitiveness in the market.
This paper presents a measurement system and technique that offers a superior alternative: accurately measure the operating TJ in-situ, under real operating conditions, and optimize the product design using real data rather than estimates.
Matthew Gross, FlackTek
In aerospace and defense manufacturing, innovation is critical to meet the increasing demands for precision, speed, and scalability in mission-critical applications. FlackTek™’s bladeless centrifugal mixing technology, in collaboration with Anduril Industries, has transformed solid rocket motor production by achieving a 24x improvement in throughput and drastically reducing processing times. This breakthrough in materials processing allows for safer, more efficient production while maintaining the stringent quality standards necessary for defense systems.
Although our core technology focuses on centrifugal mixing, the precision and scalability it offers have broader implications for other advanced materials processing techniques, including UV+EB technologies. As the aerospace and defense sectors increasingly turn to UV-curable coatings, adhesives, and composites for their lightweight and durable properties, the integration of FlackTek’s technology opens new opportunities for optimizing these processes. Our mixers ensure repeatability and consistency, which are essential when these materials undergo further treatment with UV+EB curing, unlocking the potential for faster production times and enhanced material performance.