Adhesion improvement of UV-curable ink using silane coupling agent onto glass substrate

In order to enhance the adhesions of the UV-curable inks onto glass substrate, the silane coupling agents were added into the mixture of monomer and oligomer. The monomer, containing high functionality or surface tension could lead to a high cross-link density of the polymeric network and low adhesions of UV-curable inks. With the amount of ethyoxyls of ethoxylated trimethylolpropane triacrylate increasing, adhesions of the oligomers were improved. As the monomer concentration increased, the adhesion ability of UV-curable ink onto glass was decreased. The adhesion ability of UV-curable inks onto glass was increased via adding silane coupling agents. When the concentration of the silane coupling agents was more than 12%, the adhesion ability of UV-curable inks onto glass was decreased. Silane coupling agents (3-methacryloxypropyl) trimethoxy silane (KH570) and (3-aminopropyl) triethoxy silane (KH550) were more effective than (3-glycidoxypropyl) trimethoxy silane (KH560) in the inks under the same concentration. Video microscope and scraper fineness test revealed that the pigment particles declined with the increase of grinding times, whereas the adhesions of UV-curable inks were enhanced.