Process for electron beam curable inkjet formulations
AssigneeSun Chemical Corporation
InventorsDerek Ronald Illsley, Stephen Anthony Hall
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention provides a method for printing energy-curable ink and coating compositions that have good adhesion to substrates, good print quality, solvent and scratch resistance, and low potential for migration of uncured monomers. The method comprises the steps of printing the ink or coating onto a substrate; partially curing the printed ink or coating by irradiating with UV energy; optionally printing and partially UV curing additional ink layers printed on the first layer; and completing curing via exposure to electron beam radiation, wherein the EB cure dose is greater than or equal to 20 kGy, and the accelerating voltage is greater than or equal to 70 keV.
Claims15
A method for printing an energy curable ink or coating composition comprising:
- a) providing an energy curable ink or coating composition, wherein the energy curable ink or coating composition comprises:
- i. one or more multifunctional polymerizable monomers;
- ii. one or more polymerizable oligomers and/or monofunctional monomers;
- iii. 0.1% to 5% (w/w) one or more photoinitiators;
- iv. optionally, one or more solvents, wherein the solvent is present in an amount of 0 wt % (no solvent) to 5 wt %, based on the total weight of the composition;
- and
- v. optionally, one or more colorants;
- b) applying the ink or coating composition of step a) on a substrate;
- c) exposing the applied ink or coating composition of step b) to UV radiation to partially cure the ink or coating composition, pinning the ink or coating composition to the substrate;
- and
- d) exposing the partially cured ink or coating composition of step c) to electron beam radiation;
- wherein the electron beam of step d) is accelerated at an accelerating voltage of equal to or greater than 70 keV and/or wherein the electron beam dose of step d) is equal to or greater than 20 kGy;
- and wherein the energy curable ink or coating composition comprises at least one monomer having as part of its structure a poly(ethylene oxide) sub-unit where the average degree of ethoxylation is greater than or equal to 2.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.