#uvcuring

UV Curing technology has benefited many industries, providing superior bonding, improving efficiency, and ensuring lesser errors and wastage.

About UV Curing

UV radiation is widely used in industrial processes, in medical and dental practices for a variety of purposes, such as killing bacteria, creating fluorescent effects, curing inks and resins, phototherapy and suntanning. Different UV wavelengths and intensities are used for different purposes.

Applications in the Medical Industry

The medical industry is the biggest industry that finds use for precision spot UV curing of adhesives. Innovative and intelligent, lamp and LED UV curing systems are used for precision spot and area curing of medical device assemblies and additive manufacturing. UV curing systems are ideal for assembling a variety of plastics, glass, stainless steel, rubber and joining similar or dissimilar substrates as part of a controlled UV assembly process. The lamp UV curing systems include features such as Closed-Loop Feedback technology, irradiance adjustment and a selection of band-pass filters to meet UV process requirements.

Ideal Medical Device Manufacturing Applications include:

Catheters

Anaesthesia Masks

IV Delivery Systems

Cannulas

Angioplasty Accessories

Medical Coatings

Endoscopes

Arterial Locators

Medical Filters

Hearing Aids

Atraumatic Guidewire Tips

Rubber Silicones

Hydrogels

Blood Oxygenators

Respiratory Masks

Needles

Chest Drainage Devices

Sensing Devices

Tubing and Connectors

Syringes

Tubing Drainage Sets

Benefits to the Electronics Manufacturing Industry

UV curing is widely used in electronics applications for low-temperature, high-speed, repeatable adhesive bonding, component marking, encapsulation, masking and more. High volume UV assembly applications require precise control of irradiance, spectral output and temperature to achieve the throughput and yields necessary in an automated process. 

Spot and area curing systems meet the demands of electronics assembly for many applications, including,

Automotive electronics

Bluetooth headsets

Cell phone assembly

Compact camera modules

Digital projectors

Fibre-optic components

Liquid crystal displays

Micro speaker assembly

Optical data storage

Smart cards

Fiber

Inkjet Printing and Marking Technology

Fibre-optic cables must comply with a number of regulatory standards for marking the cable jacket. Cable jackets are typically made of medium-density polyethylene and high-density polyethylene as well as polyurethane (PU) and polyamide (PA), all of which present challenges for ink adherence.

Traditional marking or printing technologies for fibre-optic and electrical cables include embossing printing, indent printing, hot foil printing, hot stamp printing and sinter printing. Some of these technologies introduce unwanted stress into the fibre cables, while others are not entirely compatible, or in the case of an indent printer, can introduce safety concerns in the workplace.

UV-curable inks present an attractive alternative approach for marking fibre-optic cables. With this technology, ink is jetted onto the cable assembly using an appropriately sized and compatible inkjet engine, then it is cured with intense UV light. To enhance inkjet adherence to the jacket material, corona or plasma treatment is applied to the cable jacket immediately upstream of the inkjet head. Also, when using UV-curable inks, there are lower concentrations of solvents and no need to discard ribbon backing material as with indent or hot press printing.

The Equipment

OmniCure series small-area and large-area UV curing systems are designed to provide an exceptionally uniform area of high optical power with a range of wavelengths, configurations and sizes to address a variety of applications. Leading-edge UV LED technology also delivers improved energy efficiency and extended service life.

The Future

UV Curing technology is already witnessing automation which promises to improve the boundaries further. UV light sources fulfil a critical role in disinfecting our environments and protecting our populace from dangerous viral and microbial contamination. UV technology is currently used for touchless disinfection in a variety of applications to ensure the highest level of protection and efficiency.

UVC disinfection is a non-contact, chemical-free disinfectant method to kill bacteria or viruses and prevent them from replicating while offering a green process with vast environmental and social benefits.

The preserving properties of UV Curing have been used for a long time. UV Curing as a technology has been constantly researched and it is finding use in more industrial applications today. The list of such applications is exhaustive, and the technology has revolutionised many industries.

It has already been widely adopted across commonly used products such as eyeglass coatings, cell phones, all kinds of electronics, vinyl flooring, credit cards, and more as research progresses. Perhaps the largest beneficiary is the EV Battery manufacturing industry.

The Technology What exactly is UV Curing? Certain liquid monomers and oligomers when mixed with a small percent of photoinitiators, and then exposed to UV energy, initiate a photochemical process that instantly dries or cures inks, coatings, and adhesives. This technology has created a revolution with almost any industrial application benefitting from it.

Besides, UV-curable materials, from epoxies to urethanes, polyurethanes to acrylates, can be formulated into unique hybrids, thereby enabling UV coatings to be created by incorporating the best characteristics from each.

Not only are these solutions quick, but they bring many other benefits to the industrial table such as being environment-friendly, non-hazardous, and causing negligent waste.

Significance of UV Curing in EV Battery Manufacture

UV-curable materials have benefited multiple applications in electric vehicles, including electric vehicle (EV) batteries, LIB pouch cells, fuel cells, coin cells, and other geometries and chemistries, such as Li-iron phosphate (LFP), Li-nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA), and Li-nickel manganese cobalt (NMC).

Challenges in EV Battery Manufacture

Reductions in manufacturing costs and improvements in reliability are the primary goals of EV battery research today. Traditionally, the battery’s electrode fabrication process was inefficient with the application and drying process being highly time-consuming using high energy, resulting in less yields.

Manufacturers face the challenge of preparing reliable EV battery packs capable of withstanding environmental extremes such as heat, corrosion, and vibration. While most battery packs include elaborate thermal management systems, short-term thermal shocks, and extreme vibration and shock levels continuously test the endurance of batteries. Better quality materials are needed in the manufacture of batteries to overcome these challenges.

The Solution

UV-curable binders combined with new electrode coating processes using lower energy UV LED curing systems reduce manufacturing costs by as much as 80%, thereby reducing electrode costs by more than 25%. Switching to UV-curable materials for battery pack assembly reduces VOC generation, speeds up assembly time, reduces assembly costs, and improves reliability. UV-curable adhesive is a natural choice which also meets the strict automotive standards for temperature extremes, high humidity, thermal shock, and extreme vibration levels.

MELSS brings you the OmniCure® SPOT and Area cure UV Curing Systems for precise curing of inks, adhesives and coatings. Selecting the ideal OmniCure system for a particular application depends on the physical, and chemical behavioral properties of the substrates.

Benefits:

Reduced process times, higher throughput with less rejection rates

Enhanced reliability of battery packs leading to reduced cost of manufacturing

Lower operational costs and resource consumption