UV Curing of Adhesives

UV curable adhesives are used for bonding parts and for pressure sensitive adhesives offering an environmentally friendly, high production rate curing process for manufacturers making tapes, labels, medical devices, electronic components and more.

UV Bonding

UV curable (light-curing) bonding adhesive formulations require no heat and shorten customer lead times, improving competitiveness and profitability. UV bonding adhesives are available in a range of viscosities and chemical systems including acrylics, epoxies, polyurethanes, polyesters and silicones. They are an ideal choice for a variety of substrates and joining dissimilar materials such as plastics, metals and glass. UV bonding adhesives exhibit excellent thermal stability, low shrinkage, optical clarity, resistance to thermal cycling, chemicals, moisture, and solvents while meeting safety, health and ecological concerns. Some are even biocompatible for medical use. For parts with shadow areas, a secondary heat cure ensures complete bonding.

Typically precision dispensing equipment and UV curing enables manufacturers to automate their component and part assembly processes which significantly increases production rates and quality. UV bonding finds wide use in the automotive industry, medical devices, electronics, aerospace, and many others that require fast, reliable and consistent curing.

UV Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (PSA)

Compared to solvent-based PSAs, UV cured PSAs exhibit better high-temperature stability and solvent resistance. UV PSAs are available for permanent, semi-permanent, and removable adhesion applications. In addition to tapes and labels, UV-curable PSAs fit specialty applications such as industrial tapes for sound dampening in the automotive industry – especially those demanding high-temperature stability and solvent resistance. UV PSAs deliver improved performance on PVC, elastomers and polyethylene.

UV-curable hot melt adhesives are applied using standard roller- or slot-die coating machines followed by in-line UV curing. Manufacturers facing increasingly stringent environmental regulations find UV-curable PSAs are an excellent alternative to traditional solvent-based PSAs.

  • Low application temperatures, especially when using UV LED curing systems, won’t damage heat sensitive substrates
  • Reduced VOC emissions
  • Improved shear resistance at high temperatures
  • High optical clarity
  • High chemical, moisture, and temperature resistance
  • Increased production rates
  • Reduced downtime

UV Bonding

UV PSAs

  • Self-adhesive permanent or removable labels - even deep-freezer and high temperature applications
  •  Medical tapes and bandages, hygienic pads
  • Industrial tapes like that for construction, fog-free tapes
  • Industrial intermediate products such as automotive sound dampening sheets, mounting/assembly tapes
  • Protective films, lamination materials such as protective window films