In March, we have seen a lot of interest around using for active or functional coating technologies.  While each project we collaborate on is confidential, we have seen some generic themes we wanted to highlight in the hopes of sparking other ideas.  Leveraging the unique capability of low energy electron beams for these types coatings is just an extension of the already well established curing or surface modification applications that have been the driver of EB usage for the last 3 decades.  The deposition of large amounts of energy to the surface layers can enable novel and desirable results when combined with the right chemistry.

Aylvin Dias, Ph.D, from DSM Biomedical Materials writes on advances in functional coatings for medical devices in The Evolving Functionality of Coatings in Medical Device Magazine. 

There are an equal number of exciting advances in active coating technologies for food and beverage packaging applications as dicussed by Aaron Brody in Exploring MAP and Active Packaging in Food Technology.

Low energy electron beam curing and/or surface modification can be an enabling process technology for these types of applications.  While the real magic is in the chemistry, using EB energy to polymerize a coating or graft a coating to a substrate can deliver the high performance required for these applications.  Many traditional surface treatment approaches (heat, UV, plasma) do not have the focused energy deposition to achieve same effect or they can damage the substrate.  Advanced vacuum deposition approaches can work but are often not commercially scalable.

We see a trend towards designer chemistries based on EB process technology playing a big role the commercial scale-up of active coating technologies. 

For more information, check out AEB solutions for Curing and Polymer Treatment.