UV TECHNOLOGY; THE MIRACLE CURE
If you’ve not yet used UV curing products, don’t worry. UV products were first introduced around a decade ago. UV curing products are designed only to cure or harden when exposed to UV light. However, once exposed, the products cure rapidly, typically within one to two minutes. The touted benefits are reduced curing times, reduced energy consumption and, because UV curing products have a much longer shelf-life, significantly reduced wastage.
With the obvious benefits in mind, you might ask why we’re only now hearing a lot of noise about UV curing products. Ten years ago, when the equipment that was needed to be able to cure was cumbersome, it was always on a heavy stand where you had to plug it in, drag an extension cable around a workshop, it was still great but pretty much non-user friendly.
Sustainability
UV light technology has advanced dramatically in the past few years, with today’s hand-held, low energy consumption lighting driving the adoption of UV curing products among refinish professionals.
Reducing the amount of energy and materials you use in refinishing is not only beneficial to the environment, it is also beneficial to your financial bottom line.
If the measures you must take to become environmentally sustainable means that your business is going to go under, then that is not sustainability. Your profit needs to be sustainable as well.
Sustainability is one of the key benefits associated with UV curing products with energy usage and wastage reduced.
Energy
According to the Office for National Statistics, electricity was the highest business expenditure on energy products, at around 3% of total intermediate consumption in 2021. UV curing products promise body shops significant savings when it comes to electricity and gas usage.
If we talk about two minutes for a UV cure, we’re talking about running a lamp, which has cost two hours charge time on a battery with a 40-minute runtime. So, to dry a skim of filler, you’d probably be looking at well under a Rand. Whereas to run a big 2-3kW infrared lamp drying some filler in the same instance, it’s going to be slower and so obviously the power usage from that it massive.
When using fast-drying UV curing products, body shops will use up to 50% less energy on each paint job and finish each job up to 35% faster.
Typically, most UV curing products advertise an average energy saving, compared to using infrared curing, of around 85%, a hugely significantly saving in terms of both money and from the standpoint of reducing CO2 emissions.
Wastage
Because UV curing products only ‘activate’ when exposed to UV light, the pot-life of UV curing products is typically much longer than that of air-drying or infrared backed products. In terms of a body shop where they are having bits of primer going hard and being chucked away, with UV curing products you have basically have zero waste.
One of the main selling points of UV curing products is the rapid drying and curing time. An additional consideration is that the time savings gained with UV curing products can also assist in work throughput. If you can turn a four-hour job into a three-hour one, then in the space of a week you may be able to fit in additional jobs.
Another benefit to using UV curing products is that of consistency and repeatability. the curing times of conventional air-cured products are based upon a combination of temperature variables, which are difficult to control precisely.
In contrast, UV curing products offer repeatable and consistent results in terms of drying and curing. One of the advantages of doing UV curing it you have much more control. It is a much more accountable process because you don’t have control over the variable if you are aid-drying.
Limitations
While it might seem that UV curing products have no downsides and that traditional bakes and air-dried products are shortly to die a death, the UV-cured products do have limitations and potential barriers to entry.
UV curing lamp technology and the associated costs have long been a significant factor. Where it falls down it the cost of the equipment, if you are looking at good lamps, the costs are quite expensive.
Currently, the practical size of repair with UV curing products is limited to around the size of a sheet of A4 paper, due to limitations in the size of the UCV curing lamps themselves.
But there are expectations that this may change soon. The scope of being able to do bigger repairs will all depend on what the equipment suppliers come out with. Everybody is looking to the future as to when we get these lamps that are going to be able to much larger repairs.
Equally, for large body shops with an efficient drying booth and a constant throughput of vehicles, the energy and time-saving benefits of UV curing may not be so pronounced.
Likewise, low-energy, air-drying products offer many of the benefits of UV curing without the expense of UV lighting and limitations on the size of repair.
By Bob Malkowski
