Comparison of heat, UV and radiation curing

Radiation curing chemistry has a number of applications in industry, and has emerged as one of the rapidly developing technologies in the late '70s. Because only limited penetration is required for surface curing applications, low energy electron beams (typically 150-300 kW) are generally used. The advantage is that these machines are available in relatively compact, self-shielded configurations and can be installed easily in existing or new manufacturing lines. The development of the technology and industrial acceptance was also greatly facilitated by the availability of ready-made formulations for a variety of applications. The radiation curing technique is compared here with two other main alternative methods: heat curing and curing by UV light. Several case studies are described in detail. (author). 69 refs