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Abstract

Four different coating formulations have been formulated with different amounts of photoinitiator and cured under different atmospheres (21, 5, 1 and 0% of oxygen). Surface cure and through cure were assessed for each combination. It was observed that the cure process for all formulations was strongly affected by the atmospheric conditions, and that the formulations required substantially less photoinitiator if cured under 5% of oxygen if compared to curing under air. Calculations show that the lower price of the formulation due to the decreased photoinitiator level may outweigh the additional equipment and running costs in specific cases. Therefore, UV‐inertisation is not only attractive from a product quality point‐of‐view, but can also offer economic advantages.