CONCLUSION
UV cure refinish products are user friendly, durable, and have a number of additional advantages that can benefit the automotive refinishing industry. Cycle times for refinish operations can be improved because there are no extended down times with UV cure paints due to drying or cure times. UV cure primer-surfacers, glazing fillers, and clearcoats can be sanded immediately following curing. If it becomes necessary to remove surface defects from clearcoats following refinishing, finesse sanding and buffing can be done immediately following curing.

Using UV cure products helps preserve the environment in a number of ways. Paint waste is almost non-existent with 1K UV cure products. These paints are typically applied as packaged, so any unused product can be poured back into the original container for reuse. Because of this, paint disposal costs are minimized also. The low VOC content allows UV cure products to be compliant with some of the most stringent local VOC regulations. UV curing saves energy because the UV lamps used to cure the UV products consume only a fraction of the energy required for forced air baking. UV cure paints also have the ability to achieve high transfer efficiency using low VOC technology.

Because UV cure paints have relatively low VOC content, the risk of encountering solvent pop and gloss dieback is minimal. UV cure products are also safe to use when following the recommended safety precautions as specified by the product makers.

For additional information on UV & UB technology: www.radtech.org

For information on collision repair and refinish training: www.i-car.com