Dr. William Miles, Penn Color, Inc.

Energy curable systems are outstanding options for many different applications, but have limits because of difficulty achieving adhesion on low energy substrates. This presentation outlines the properties of a novel branched polymer that can be solubilized into UV monomers to enhance wetting – and thus adhesion – of energy curable coatings across a broad variety of substrates. This effect is achieved using a mechanism that relies on polymer architecture rather than surface tension. Results demonstrate that branched polymers can greatly enhance the work of adhesion of an energy curable system with a mechanism that is decoupled from interfacial attraction and surface energy measurements.