1995 Volume 81 Issue 11 Pages 1085-1090
Adhesion of poly (ethylene terephalate) film by Electron Beam Curing (EBC) method which can be thought as an energy-saving process was studied for the purpose of bestowing economically design and distinctness of image on thermosetting high molecular weight polyester precoated steel sheets.
Adhesion of EB curable resins onto metal is generally poor. In this report, addition of EB curable phenolic resole oligomer with bifunctional acrylates to the top coat used for precoated steel was studied in order to increase the adhesion of an EB curable adhesive, and it was found that the phenolic oligomer is tremendously effective for the improvement of adhesion.
The reasons why the phenolic oligomer provides excellent adhesion were 1) elongation at break of the top coat to which the phenolic oligomer is added is little decreased by EB irradiation, and the formability does not reduce. 2) As the phenolic oligomer is unevenly distributed to the surface layer of the top coat, it is suggested that the contact frequency of the phenolic oligomer to the EB curable adhesive is so high that graft polymerization between them is liable to occur.