NIRVANA - Near Infra-Red photoinitiated curing of industrial wood coatings and varnishes

Radiation Curing utilising Light Emitting Diodes (LED) offers substantial energy savings for industrial wood coating applications compared to conventional UV mercury arc lamps (~60% less) and traditional gas fired drying systems (~90% less). However, the growth of Radiation Curing applications has been limited due to: Poor depth penetration of UV in pigmented coatings; Poor surface coating properties (due to oxygen inhibition) and the absence of optimised coating formulations. NIRVANA will deliver 3 novel solutions to these challenges by:
1. Developing an innovative near-infra red (NIR) photoinitiator within the 880-1000 nm transmission window where light is not typically absorbed or scattered.
2. Developing novel hybrid organic-inorganic nano-materials to increase surface cross linking density and hardness and reduce oxygen inhibition.
3. Creating formulations of 100% solids acrylate based resin wood coatings that can be cured using energy efficient NIR LED irradiation