Improving UV curing properties Research and Development Department of Company Z, a chemical manufacturer
Improve UV curing, shorten takt time, and further increase yield...
Low-viscosity monomer improves UV curing
Company Z received a request from an electronic materials manufacturer, a client company, to improve the hard coating agent for multilayer films used in touch panels. The request required improvements to the UV curing properties and viscosity of the solvent-free hard coating agent that the company was supplying, and immediate action was required.
Challenges
The request for improvement of the hard coating agent was proving difficult. The deadline was approaching, and if things continued as they were...
The Research and Development Department, which was tasked with coming up with a solution, began to sort out the specific requests from the customer and consider the solution.
Mr. K, the research and development department leader in charge, looks back on the situation at the time as follows:
"There was a request to shorten the takt time of the production line, so we needed to improve the UV curing properties of the hard coating agent. Also, some multilayer films contain materials that are damaged by UV radiation, so we needed to reduce the UV exposure dose to improve yield. Furthermore, there was an additional request to lower the viscosity to improve coatability."
Mr. K had been testing improvements to UV curing properties by repeatedly making prototypes, changing the types and amounts of ingredients used in the hard coating agent. However, testing had hit a snag with the combination of oligomers and monomers that had been used up until then.
"When we increased the proportion of multifunctional oligomer to improve UV curing properties, the viscosity increased. So we tried using a monofunctional acrylate monomer, which can keep the viscosity low. However, this not only worsened the UV curing properties, but also caused problems with the strong skin irritation that made the process more complicated and we had to consider the safety of our workers," says Mr. K.
The deadline set by the client was approaching, and despite repeated verification, no progress was being seen, leaving Mr. K and his team increasingly anxious.
Key Challenges
Improved UV curing was required to shorten takt time
It was also necessary to reduce viscosity to improve coatability.
It is difficult to find a well-balanced formulation: increasing multifunctional oligomers raises viscosity, while using monofunctional acrylate monomers to suppress viscosity results in poor UV curability.