Guide to UV Measurement
Comparison with Thermal Curing
Thermal curing (and drying) relies on heat to either polymerize a coating or ink, or to drive off diluent solvents, the resulting condensation and/or cross-linking reaction determines the physical properties of the “cured” film.
There are essentially two “dimensions” to thermal processes: temperature and time. In fact, the time-temperature profile can be critical to success in many thermal processes.
By comparison, UV Processing requires four “dimensions” to adequately describe and manage the process. These are irradiance, wavelength, surface temperature, and time.
For more discussion of Thermal processes, see Thermal Curing.