Method of making a decorative sheet and the like

A method of applying a coating film to a metallic sheet by first cross-linking the backside of the film and finally cross-linking the frontside of the film is given, using radically curable coating compositions. The method comprises the steps of applying a coating composition onto a releasable auxiliary sheet to form cross-linking on the contact side of the film while avoiding oxygen, releasing the film from the sheet, laminating the uncross-linked side of the film onto the steel sheet of a product, and finally irradiating again to form cross-linking into the uncross-linked side by avoiding oxygen at the contact side. The energy level of electron beams may be 0.1-3.0 MeV. The radiation doses may be 0.5-15 Mrad. Cross-linking velocity can be accelerated by heating to 800C. The laminated film can be irradiated at room temperature to 1800C. In one example, a composition consisting of 70 parts of methyl polymethacrylate, 30 parts of methyl methacrylate, 15 parts of titanium white, 7 parts of phthalocyanin blue and 0.2 parts of carbon black were applied onto a polyethylene terephthalate film, in which the applied thickness was 20μ. This coating was irradiated by a 1 MeV Van de Graaff electron accelerator in air with 5 Mrad of electron beams. The film was laminated onto the metallic sheet with a nip roll, and irradiated with 3 Mrad. After release of the film, a beautifully colored plate was obtained. (Iwakiri, K.)