How to choose the curing method of the thinned adhesive coating? What is the effect of curing time on product quality?

When choosing the curing method of the thinned adhesive coating, it is necessary to combine the production demand, the characteristics of the substrate and process conditions to make a comprehensive judgment, the core reference factors are as follows:

 - Production efficiency requirements: 

If the pursuit of rapid continuous production (such as packaging lines, print processing), priority selection of UV curing type (a few seconds to tens of seconds curing) or heat curing type (completed within half an hour); if the production rhythm is loose, room temperature self-drying type more cost-saving equipment.

- Substrate temperature resistance: 

high-temperature sensitive substrates (such as paper, plastic film, part of the fabric), to avoid heat curing, in order to prevent deformation, discoloration, suitable for the selection of ambient self-drying or UV curing; high-temperature substrates (such as wood, metal, thick plates) can be flexible to choose the heating curing to enhance efficiency.

- Bonding Strength Requirements: 

For high strength requirements (e.g., wood splicing, building materials bonding), heat-curing type can usually form a more stable adhesive layer, and the bonding strength is better than that of room temperature self-drying; UV-curing type is also stronger, but it is necessary to ensure that the adhesive layer can be sufficiently irradiated by UV (to avoid incomplete curing of shaded areas).

- Equipment conditions: 

If the factory already has UV irradiation equipment or heating oven, you can give priority to match the corresponding curing method; if there is no special equipment, room temperature self-drying type is easier to start, without additional investment.

- Environmental factors: 

high humidity environment, room temperature self-drying curing may be slower, you can consider heating or UV curing; low-temperature environment (such as winter workshop) is also recommended to accelerate the process of heating curing.

 In short, prioritize the direction based on productivity and substrate temperature resistance, then refine the selection with strength requirements and equipment conditions, and refer to the manufacturer's recommended formulations for specific scenarios if necessary.

The curing time of the thinned adhesive has a significant impact on product quality, which is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

 - Bonding strength: 

Insufficient curing time (not fully cured), the internal structure of the adhesive layer is not stabilized, which will lead to a decrease in the bonding strength, easy to delamination, peeling; curing time is too long (beyond a reasonable range), the adhesive layer may be due to excessive shrinkage or aging, but to reduce the strength (especially at room temperature self-drying type in high humidity).

- Product Stability: 

Insufficiently cured adhesive layer may remain viscous, resulting in subsequent processing or use of the product staining impurities, sticking to each other (such as stacked cartons, laminating paper); and curing too fast (such as UV curing time is too short), may be due to the adhesive layer shrinkage of the uneven stress, leading to deformation of the substrate (such as thin paper warping, plastic film folds).

- Production efficiency and cost: 

Curing time is too long will slow down the pace of production, increasing the backlog of products; curing too short if not properly controlled (such as heating temperature is too high, UV irradiation is too strong), may lead to the adhesive layer of surface cracking, bubbles, the need to rework instead of increasing costs.

- Environmental performance: 

Fully cured adhesive layer can better resist temperature and humidity changes, moisture erosion (such as wood bonding place moisture); not fully cured adhesive layer in the humid environment is easy to soften, lose bonding effect.

 Therefore, it is necessary to control the curing time (refer to the manufacturer's recommended range) according to the material and process requirements of the product, in order to balance the bonding quality, production efficiency and product stability.