Coatings World recently attended the uvebWest 2017, held in Burlingame, California. Energy curing is finding new applications, from 3D printing and touch displays to inkjet and food packaging, and UV LED is emerging as a huge opportunity. Ink World editor, Dave Savastano reviews the event.

A growing area for UV coatings is waterborne coating systems. According to Persistence Market Research, increasing environmental awareness is expected to drive the global waterborne UV coating systems. The presence of stringent environmental standards for emission of VOCs imposed by various governments and regulatory bodies has played a crucial role in the push to development a suitable substitute for solvent coating systems. According to the the reports findings, waterborne UV coating systems are easy to apply and have emerging benefits as composite repair, direct to metal applications, sunshine-cure coatings for decking and aerospace application among others.

The report noted that the growing construction and furniture industry, particularly in China is expected to boost the growth of the market. Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest consumer of waterborne UV coating systems in the next few years, owing to the increasing population and growing industry for secondary processed products especially in China and India. Currently, Europe is the largest market for waterborne UV coating systems due to the stringent regulations with respect to the environment in this region. Therefore, numerous automobile companies in this region are replacing solvent coating systems with waterborne UV coating systems.

For more information on the latest technologies related to UV/EB coatings I suggest you contact RadTech, the association for UV & EB technology at www.radtech.org.