I encountered the world of coatings technology at the start of my PhD, some 44 years ago, which involved an investigation of a photoresist technology that used 2+2 cycloaddition reactions for cross linking. This was my introduction to Radiation Curing, which has been inaccurately renamed Energy Curing in my opinion. All curing reactions need an input of energy, be it thermal, electromagnetic or even mechanical. I rest my case.

My mentor during my research was Professor R.S. Davidson, a kindly genius who used to call me a reductionist. I thought it was a compliment.

I started researching into how radiation curing could be applied to industrial processes in 1986 when Crown Industrial Coatings in Darwen employed me to work with John Sutcliffe on Electron Beam curable coatings for metal as well as other substrates.

I moved to Beckers Long Term Development in 1992, where I joined their team that had already been seeking the key to unleash the technology for several years.

The challenges were numerous. Formability, rheology, adhesion, gloss control, cost of resins and resistance to change to name the main ones. My approach to finding answers to the conundrums posed was reveal the secrets of the incumbent thermally cured, solvent borne technologies and apply the knowledge to the new technology. In this way I learned about resins and their composition, the importance of Tg and molecular weight, curing using melamine, isocyanate and epoxy technologies as well other more esoteric chemistries.

For instance formability and rheology counteract each other. The Good Vibration papers of the late 1990s detailed how relatively high molecular weight acrylate functional resins with low reactive diluent concentrations are required to achieve formabilities equivalent to those achieved by polyester based coatings. However, in order to achieve application viscosities temperatures of over 80ºC are needed.

Papers with Professor John Watts of The University of Surrey, who used surface analytical techniques to tease out the secrets of how adhesion to metal is generated in the existent technology, revealed that a chemical reaction between components of the coating and the metal surface, pretreated or otherwise, is a must for permanent adhesion. For high temperature cure, a less reactive moiety within the resin system is all that is needed, but for low temperature cure a more reactive moiety is de rigueur.

I started my career as a specialist but ended as a generalist but I remain a reductionist.

My aim now is to instruct those with a passion for coatings, who would like to learn about the fundamental chemistry of the technology. So join me between the 3rd and 6th November 2025 inclusive at Swansea University.