PCT Engineered Electron Beam Technology for Converting Applications - Manual

Electron Beam Technology for Converting Applications
Stephen C. Lapin, Ph.D.
PCT Engineered Systems, LLC
Davenport, IA
Electron beam (EB) technology has been used in converting applications for more than
30 years. The use of EB is driven by a number of factors including: product
performance, product consistency, high throughput, energy savings, and the absence of
solvent. The nature of EB technology can also enable unique converting applications that
are not possible by other means.
A new generation of lower cost, more compact EB equipment has been recently
introduced (Figure 1). This equipment operates in the range of about 70 to 125 kV. This
equipment is well suited for curing of inks and coatings used in package printing
applications. A number of articles have been written focusing on these printing
applications. It is perhaps somewhat less well known that this same new generation EB
equipment is also well suited for a variety of non-printing converting applications. For
the purpose of this discussion, converting applications are grouped into seven basic
processes which are described below.
Figure 1. New generation EB equipment compared to original industrial equipment.