Paul Mills is an industry consultant working primarily in new coatings technologies, including UV cure and antimicrobial coatings. He consults to a number of coating and equipment suppliers and is president of UV Robotics, a company specializing in robotic UV curing of complex and large parts. Paul is a board member of RadTech and is a frequent contributor to Finishing Today. He can be reached at pmillsoh@aol.com.
This article examines the parameters of
wavelength, peak irradiance and energy density that comprise UV curing as well
and some common issues related to measuring them.
More than 2,200 attendees gathered in Chicago’s McCormick Place to learn about advances in UV and EB raw materials, formulations, equipment and processing, both from the RadTech 2008 technical program and from the 116 suppliers on the exhibit floor. This article presents some of the highlights of the event.
A few years ago the coatings world was ‘nano’ crazy. The term nano was everywhere. I didn’t know what it really meant since there wasn’t an agreed-upon definition of nano. Mostly it meant adding a little of something tiny to paint. It didn’t matter if was a 5-micron particle. If it was small – it was nano. “Sustainability” has replaced nano as the hot topic.
Aside from camouflaged ATVs and hunting gear, the average American doesn’t have much need for (or access to) military coating technology. While the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground routinely assesses Chemical Agent Resistant Coatings (CARCs), most folks just don’t need a paint that withstands the rigors of these exotic materials. And while laser-invisible stealth coatings might be handy for a hot-footed teenage speedster, he is not likely to get his hands on that technology any time soon. Recently, however, I discovered that my world and the military world have in common my favorite acronym: UV.
Dubbed “RadTech Europe 07: UV/EB – The Natural Choice” by it’s organizers, the choice to hold the event in Vienna in November meant that nature itself played a role by dumping snow on attendees trying to get in and out of Austria. But if the weather was indeed brisk – so was activity at the conference, which has become a forum for UV and EB suppliers to gather every two years and check the pulse of technology and measure its progress.
A few years ago, the coatings world was nano- crazy. Nano- everywhere. I didn’t know what it really meant since there wasn’t an agreed-on definition of “nano-.” Mostly it meant adding a little of something tiny to paint. It didn’t matter if was a 5-micron particle; if it was small, it was nano-. Now “sustainability” has replaced nano- as the hot topic. But what does sustainability really mean?
Dubbed “RadTech Europe ’07: UV/EB - The Natural Choice” by its organizers, the November event in Vienna was greeted by nature itself dumping snow on attendees trying to get in and out of Austria. But if the weather was brisk, so was activity at the conference, which has become a notable forum for ultraviolet (UV) and electron beam (EB) suppliers to gather every two years and check the pulse of technology and measure its progress.
A
couple of months ago, Ford announced that it was closing one of its Cleveland
casting plants and furloughing one of the two famous Cleveland engine plants
for a year.
