Elimination and Prevention of Foam in Energy- Cured Systems— Always a Balancing Act
Environmental regulations have led to the increasing popularity of energy-cured coatings and printing inks. Although there are a number of technical considerations with these formulations, this article will focus on the formation of foam bubbles, or air entrapment, which remains a major problem.
Solutions to these problems present considerable challenges to formulators, applicators, manufacturers and raw material suppliers. Several methods of reducing or eliminating foam bubbles in energy-cured systems do exist, including the following.