UV/EB Curing of Nanocomposites for Enhancing the Fuctionality and Utility in Coatings Industry

-Composite materials combine properties of the individual components in a synergetic manner to produce a variety of materials in an efficient and cost effective manner. Thus, composite materials are being used in various applications from automotive to furniture industries. Materials reinforced with nanoscale components are adding new dimensions to composite materials and enable further major improvements in functional and structural properties. The incorporation of only a few percent of nanosized particles can make dramatic property changes that may result in enhancing physical and mechanical properties of the resulting composite. Several major issues need to be addressed to utilize the full potential of such nanofillers i.e. incompatibility or weak interfacial bonding between the matrix and the nanoscale component, and agglomeration of nanosized component during processing resulting in inhomogeneous distribution. UV/EB technology offers a way of overcoming these challenges by grafting of monomers/polymers including natural polymer onto the nanofiller surface thereby fixing their morphology and at the same time making them compatible with the host polymer.