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UV cure coatings have been in use for about four decades and are used for many industrial applications. The scratch-resistant coatings used on eyeglasses are UV cured. UV coatings are used for printing the keyboard keys on many handheld electronic items in order to resist the aggressive influences of skin oils and dirt. Most wood and other “hard” flooring is currently manufactured with UV cured coatings at the factory. Wire and pipe manufacturers use UV coatings because of the high speed curing advantage of UV coatings. High volume printing of magazines and cereal boxes use UV cure inks to speed process times. Even recreational items like golf balls are coated with UV cured materials.
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There are currently many automotive applications of UV coatings. Just like the keyboard for a calculator, the instrument panel in the vehicles we repair may have been printed and cured with UV coatings. Minor chips in windshields are commonly repaired with a liquid sealant and a blacklight; this is UV curing! Some specialty items for vehicles are already UV cured at the factory. But the most common, for more than a decade, is the headlamp lens assembly. When was the last time that you replaced the round, heavy glass headlamp? For more than a decade we have enjoyed the stylized lightweight assemblies made of plastics. The plastics used to produce the lens is not scratch or abrasion resistant until it is coated and cured with a UV clear at the factory!