Application Technology

New Black&Light, deep-curing, black epoxy adhesive technology has been developed by Panacol, in which epoxy adhesives from the company’s Vitralit® product range can now be cured in thicker layers using UV light sources, without having to resort to secondary curing mechanisms.

Conventional black UV adhesives have a major disadvantage of the black colour absorbing a high proportion of UV intensity, so the energy needed to fully polymerise an adhesive can only penetrate a few micrometres. This results in an incomplete cure and surface ‘skin’ formation on black adhesives. As a result, they require a secondary thermal curing process at temperatures above 100°C. 

Panacol’s new Black&Light technology, however, enables the complete curing of black epoxy adhesives with LED UV energy. Depth of cure can range from a few hundred micrometres to several millimetres. The adhesives are suitable for encapsulation, glob top, or edge bonding in electronics manufacturing, as well as for optical adhesive systems where high optical density values are required. In opto-electronic applications they also help minimise reflections and enhance sensor transmission values.

In a typical manufacturing process using ‘Black&Light’ technology, the black adhesive is dispensed and cured with an appropriate wavelength and intensity. During the curing process, the Black&Light technology within the adhesive enables UV rays to penetrate and complete a full cure. Once the adhesive polymerisation is complete, the structure of the Black&Light technology prohibits light transmission, resulting in a fully cured adhesive system that remains irreversibly black. 

The technology is compatible with many Vitralit® epoxy adhesives from Panacol and custom adhesive solutions can be created to meet different needs, as to the amount of light blocking, depth of cure required, as well as different applications.