During the last two decades, the production of polymers and plastics has been increasing rapidly. In spite of developing new polymers and polymeric materials, only 40 60 are used commercially on a large scale. It has been estimated that half of the annual production of polymers is employed outdoors. The photochemical instability of most polymers limits their outdoor application as they are photodegraded quickly over periods from months to a few years. To the despair of technologists and consumers alike, photodegradation and environmental ageing of polymers occur much faster than can be expected from knowledge collected in laboratories. In order to improve polymer photostability there has been a very big effort during the last 30 years to understand the mechanisms involved in photodegradation and environmental ageing. This book represents the author's attempt, based on his 25 years' experience in research on photodegradation and photo stabilization, to collect and generalize a number of available data on the photodegradation of polymers. The space limitation and the tremendous number of publications in the past two decades have made a detailed presentation of all important results and data difficult. The author apologizes to those whose work has not been quoted or widely presented in this book. Because many published results are very often contradictory, it has been difficult to present a fully critical review of collected knowledge, without antagonizing authors. For that reason, all available theories, mechanisms and different suggestions have been presented together, and only practice can evaluate which of them are valid.

Volume Four discusses the applications of radiation curing and provides a synopsis of the latest research in coatings; graphic arts; microelectronics; optical fibres; adhesives; 3D machining; membranes and holographic optical elements as well as considering the worldwide trends in the market.

Volume three deals specifically with the role of monomers and resins in radiation curing. The nature of the backbone of ologomers leads to the ultimate physical or chemical properties of the UV-cured material. This chapter also covers aspects of the chemistry of these compounds in relation to their end uses.

Volume one deals primarily with the basic principles of radiation curing: UV-curing; EB-curing; microwave curing; oligomer/resin technology; chemistry of imaging science; testing methods; equipment; coatings applications and emerging trends in photopolymers for holographic recording and laser induced reactions.

During the last two decades, the production of polymers and plastics has been increasing rapidly. In spite of developing new polymers and polymeric materials, only 40 60 are used commercially on a large scale. It has been estimated that half of the annual production of polymers is employed outdoors. The photochemical instability of most polymers limits their outdoor application as they are photodegraded quickly over periods from months to a few years. To the despair of technologists and consumers alike, photodegradation and environmental ageing of polymers occur much faster than can be expected from knowledge collected in laboratories. In order to improve polymer photostability there has been a very big effort during the last 30 years to understand the mechanisms involved in photodegradation and environmental ageing. This book represents the author's attempt, based on his 25 years' experience in research on photodegradation and photo stabilization, to collect and generalize a number of available data on the photodegradation of polymers. The space limitation and the tremendous number of publications in the past two decades have made a detailed presentation of all important results and data difficult. The author apologizes to those whose work has not been quoted or widely presented in this book. Because many published results are very often contradictory, it has been difficult to present a fully critical review of collected knowledge, without antagonizing authors. For that reason, all available theories, mechanisms and different suggestions have been presented together, and only practice can evaluate which of them are valid.

During the last two decades, the production of polymers and plastics has been increasing rapidly. In spite of developing new polymers and polymeric materials, only 40-60 are used commercially on a large scale. It has been estimated that half of the annual production of polymers is employed outdoors. Increasing the stability of polymers and plastics towards heat, light, atmospheric oxygen and other environmental agents and weathering conditions has always been a very important problem. The photochemical instability of most of polymers limits them to outdoor application, where they are photo degraded fast over periods ranging from months to a few years. To the despair of technologists and consumers alike, photodegrada tion and environmental ageing of polymers occur much faster than can be expected from knowledge collected in laboratories. In many cases, improved methods of preparation and purification of both monomers and polymers yield products of better quality and higher resistance to heat and light. However, without stabilization of polymers by applica tion of antioxidants (to decrease thermal oxidative degradation) and photostabilizers (to decrease photo-oxidative degradation) it would be impossible to employ polymers and plastics in everyday use.