Novel Technology of Electron Beam Curing in Vacuum

By Mikhail Laksin (IdeOn LLC), Bowei Han (Celplast Metallized Products) and Dante Ferrari (Metallizing Surface Technologies)

This paper describes an innovative approach to applying protective coatings on vacuum-metallized plastics by combining flexographic printing with electron-beam (EB) curing inside the vacuum chamber. The process generates three simultaneous energy sources -- EB radiation, plasma and UV light -- enabling superior coating uniformity and adhesion.

As stated in the paper, "Introduction of EB curing inside of the vacuum metallization chamber offers significant benefits in improvement of barrier, mechanical and chemical (corrosion) resistance properties of metalized products."

Key benefits demonstrated include:

• Barrier enhancement: up to 10x improvement in moisture and gas transmission rates
• FDA compliance: migration testing showed undetectable EB-coating extractables
• Enhanced adhesion: less than 1% tape pick-off achievable on non-oxidized aluminum
• Downstream durability: superior resistance to flex-induced barrier degradation
• Single-pass efficiency: eliminates the traditional two-pass metallizing/coating process