Market and application prospects of UV LED curing technology

★UVLED market and prospects

According to TechNavio research, the UVLED market has maintained a very rapid growth in the past seven or eight years, from US$20 million in 2008 to US$90 million in 2014, with a compound annual growth rate of 28.5%. In 2016, due to the active introduction of UV LED products into various applications such as light curing, sterilization and purification markets, the estimated output value will reach 166 million US dollars, of which the output value of LEDs in the light curing market will reach 81 million US dollars. By 2020, the compound annual growth rate of the global UVLED technology market will reach 39%.

In 2015, the UV curing market accounted for 48.14% of the UVLED technology market. The printing industry's demand for UVLED curing equipment has increased, and the flux density used for UVLED chips has been greatly improved, making UV curing occupy a large part of the UVLED technology market. At the same time, the printing industry has developed into a major user of LED curing equipment. UVLED technology has achieved great success in the inkjet field, which has promoted the application of UVLED technology in the entire printing industry.

UVLED technology in the Asian market

TechNavio predicts that the UVLED technology market in the Asia-Pacific region will grow the fastest in the future, and the compound annual growth rate of UVLED technology in the Asia-Pacific region will reach 39.31%. Mainly because of the large demand for UV curing equipment and technology in this area. China and India are emerging markets. As the government advocates energy-saving light sources and supports the control of industrial, medical and scientific sectors, these policies encourage UVLED manufacturers to increase UVLED production. LED light curing applications are currently mainly concentrated in the three major areas of woodware, ink and UV glue, and there will be a large increase in the next few years.

UVLED technology in the European market

European UVLED technology will grow from 36.28 million US dollars in 2015 to 190.2 million US dollars in 2020. European environmental supervision of hazardous substances and the prohibition of mercury lamps have made the European market an important contributor to the global UVLED market revenue. Because UVLED is environmentally friendly and consumes less power, it has a large number of applications in the European medical, adhesive, and printing and curing markets. These applications have also become a major factor in the growth of the European market.

UVLED technology in the North American market

UVLED technology accounts for 26.8% of the North American market share. TechNavio predicts that the North American UVLED technology market will grow from USD 34.33 million in 2015 to USD 179.06 million in 2020. Due to the rapid growth of the market, the graphic arts industry in North America is increasingly using UV curing equipment and technology. Other UVLED light curing applications involve the healthcare industry, communication equipment industry, automotive industry, building materials industry, etc.

★UVLED resin

Since UVLED is a single-band UV light source, the absorption spectrum of the initiator needs to match the emission spectrum of the LED. At present, there are not many initiators developed for LED light sources on the market, and there is a shortage of mass-produced ones. Therefore, the matching of initiators has always been a difficult point in LED light curing. Currently available photoinitiators include TPO, TPO-L, ITX, DETX, BAPO, etc. However, these initiators do not have very strong absorption peaks in the wavelength bands of 365nm, 385nm, 395nm, and 405nm, so the initiation efficiency is not high. At the same time, compared with the traditional mercury lamp, its power is lower, and the irradiation energy is not high, especially for ink-based colored systems. If the printing speed is too fast, it is easy to cause the ink to be incompletely cured

In view of the problems of initiator matching and equipment power, the light-curing resin used for LED curing must have very high reactivity to avoid problems such as poor curing. At present, there are few UVLED curing resins available in the market, mainly due to the two major issues of reactivity and stability.

The balance of curing speed, surface oxygen resistance and storage stability

Curing speed, resistance to surface oxygen inhibition and storage stability are three important aspects of UV curing technology. It is relatively easy to implement separately, but it is very difficult if all three are taken into account. Through a lot of experimental work, the scientific research personnel of Runao Chemical used innovative methods to change the resin structure, and used auxiliary methods to develop three UVLED curing resins with different application systems, which perfectly achieved the curing speed and surface resistance. The balance of oxygen inhibition and storage stability solves practical application problems well.

Wood and plastic coating direction

FSP8370 is a tetrafunctional special modified polyester acrylate, specially developed for LED woodware and plastic coatings. The resin has a very fast low-energy curing speed, high conversion rate, high hardness, and excellent abrasion resistance and boiling resistance. In the experiment, the 395nm point light source with a light intensity of only 200mw/cm² was used for 10 seconds to dry the surface. FSP8370 not only has outstanding reactivity, but also has excellent storage stability. In the formulation with initiator, put it in a 60°C oven for 2 weeks, the viscosity is basically unchanged, and the thermal stability is excellent.

UV glue direction

FSP8376 is a bifunctional special modified polyurethane acrylate, specially developed for use in UVLED adhesive system. The resin has fast curing speed, low shrinkage, excellent cohesion and water resistance, high bonding strength to plastic substrates, and its elongation is 130%, and it has excellent resilience.

FSP8374 is a two-functional special modified polyester acrylate, specially developed for use in UVLED ink systems. The resin has fast curing speed, good flexibility, excellent pigment wettability, good flexibility, good adhesion to plastics, metals, and glass, and is suitable for a variety of printing substrates. Good printability also makes it suitable for offset printing and silk screen printing.

★Application of UVLED in light curing

UV inkjet

At present, the market is paying great attention to UVLED curing technology, and the innovation in the inkjet field is the most, and the advantages of UVLED curing can meet the needs of this field.

UVLED inkjet advantages: energy saving, high efficiency, high resolution, adapt to a variety of substrates. Application areas: industrial or decoration printing, large format inkjet printing, label and packaging printing.

UV offset printing

Compared with ordinary UV printing, LEDUV offset printing is more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, has a long life span, can reduce energy consumption by up to 70~80%, and has outstanding adaptability to printing materials.

PCB industry

Components (capacitors, inductors, various plug-ins, screws, chips, etc.) are fixed.

Moisture-proof potting and core circuit, chip protection, anti-oxidation coating protection.

Circuit board conformal (corner) coating.

Ground wire, flying wire and coil are fixed.

Wave soldering through-hole mask.

Wood industry

Compared with the traditional coating method, UVLED will not affect the moisture content of the substrate, and the construction process of UVLED fast curing is fully realized from the closed bottom, primer, color repair, and topcoat, eliminating the need for traditional wood bottom and surface The long drying and curing time of the paint and the complicated procedures of low solid content and multiple spraying construction can realize full-line mechanization and assembly line operation, which greatly promotes the increase of factory productivity.

UV adhesive

The use of UVLED curing glue has many advantages, such as low heat generation, lower energy requirements, saving curing time and location, improving productivity, and easier automation. Therefore, it is widely used in the microelectronics industry and the field of medical equipment to play the role of bonding, fixing, and protecting.

UV nail polish

Using low-power LED lamp for curing, low heat generation during use, UV nail polish curing effect is good, and it can keep bright as new for a long time.

UV coating

LED advantages: cold light source, less pollution, fast curing, low energy consumption, superior film-forming performance.

Application areas: mobile phones, automotive coatings, optical lenses, plastic coatings, optical fiber coatings.