UV+EB Industry Thought Leaders

COVID-19 has created heightened awareness to virus and bacteria transmission, and has served as a catalyst to bring new, innovative products and technologies, designed to eliminate or reduce the spread on printed products.

This presentation will discuss energy-curable, anti-microbial coating technologies for printed products, application types, current market receptivity and future demand.

Spreading of viruses via surfaces has become a big issue in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. There is renewed and urgent interest for anti-viral surface coatings to reduce spread of viruses via surfaces in public access space. This talk will introduce new “Safe Surface Technology" for resins with antiviral activity against enveloped viruses such as the SARS-COVID and Influenza virus. This new technology is metal free and polymer bound, which has some major benefits for the users and a differentiator from other antiviral solutions.

Antimicrobial additives are increasingly being used in products we touch or handle, and demand for their use is growing. Antimicrobial additive materials carry an important caveat, they only inhibit the reproduction of potentially harmful bacteria and microorganisms. They do not kill bacteria and microorganisms and are not a replacement for regular cleaning and environmental hygiene. Antimicrobial coatings used along with standard and regular cleaning practices of a product or in an environment can help stop the growth and spread of these harmful microorganisms on surfaces. This presentation will discuss the addition of a silver ion antimicrobial additive into the formulation of UV cured powder coatings and the product applications and benefits.

Over the last year we have all become acutely aware of the transmission of organisms on every surface that we contact on a daily basis. As coatings formulators and suppliers how can we make our next coatings development meet the performance criteria of an antimicrobial surface? Most coating formulations utilize toxic species incorporated into the coating to terminate organisms on the coating surface. Unfortunately, many toxic materials are hazardous for human contact and have potential regulatory concerns.

This presentation will review use of ‘UV Cure Shark Skin bio-mimicking’ Antimicrobial surfaces for Autonomous Vehicles (AV). These surfaces are naturally antimicrobial without the use of added toxic substances. Future ride-hailing AVs are expected to have rapid ‘turn around’ after every use that should result in a microbial-free ‘touch surface’. AVs are expected to grow dramatically in the next 5 years as ride-hailing options replace traditional taxi and Uber style of conveyance. In addition, this presentation will discuss how coatings with anti-biofouling properties find use in hospitals and medical implants.