Photoinitiator creates reactive species such as free radicals, cations, or anions when exposed to radiation such as UV rays, and find wide applications in adhesives and coatings, ink, and other industries. The market is quickly recovering from the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the outlook remains robust for 2022 and beyond.
Photoinitiators form a significant portion of UV printing inks and coatings. They capture the energy from photons. The photoinitiators are activated when exposed to UV radiation and the polymer formation process involves initiation, propagation, chain transfer, and termination processes.
Adequate functioning of the Photoinitiator requires an optimum level of photoactivity, solubility in curable mediums, storage stability, and no/low odor or toxicity. To achieve high efficiency in these parameters, companies are developing multi-functional photoinitiators.
Further, with strong growth in 3D printing using biomaterials, the demand for advanced photoinitiators will remain robust over the forecast period. In particular, in the medical field, the demand for environment-friendly photoinitiators offers significant potential for companies operating in the Photoinitiator industry.
Two major types of photoinitiators in use for curing include free radical Photoinitiators and cationic Photoinitiators. Of these, the free radical Photoinitiators market size dominated the global markets. These are often used in styrene-based and acrylate-based formulations for polymerization.
Two major classes of free radical photoinitiators include Type 1 (uses unimolecular bond cleavage for producing free radicals) and Type 2 (uses bimolecular for producing free radicals).
Amidst intense competitive conditions, companies such as Aal Chem are marketing products for specific applications. Similarly, IGM resins offers free radical photoinitiator blends for Graphic Arts, Wood Coatings, Plastic Coatings, Metal Coatings, Adhesives, Electronics, and other applications. On the other hand, Lambson and other companies are focusing on expanding their presence across the world.
Identifying the raw materials and the curing process used in printing inks for food packaging applications poses significant challenges for companies. Possible migration of low-molecular-weight photo-initiators into the food can result in harmful effects on consumers and can result in product recalls. The risk of migration increases with the declining molecular weight of radicals.
To overcome the challenge, novel technologies such as immobilizing the photoinitiators, increasing molecular weight, reducing the impact on viscosity, self-initiating resin, use of multifunctional photoinitiators, and developing advanced testing tools for migration testing of photo-initiators.