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ABSTRACT
The application of UV digital inkjet printing onto melamine-faced board (MF) has attracted increasing attention as an efficient and environmentally benign surface decoration method. However, the interface bonding between UV coating and melamine-formaldehyde surface is weak, resulting in poor printing durability. In this study, the MF surface is grafted with 3-(triethoxysilyl) propyl isocyanate (ICPTES) via a urea cross-linking process, and then condensed with γ-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxy silane (KH570) to improve its compatibility with the polyacrylate-based UV ink. A combination of physical (surface polishing) and chemical (dual-silane treatments) activations of MF surface enhances its interface bonding strength with UV coating up to 2.24 MPa, 966.7% and 119.6% higher than those of the untreated and the conventional adhesion promotor treated surface, respectively. FTIR results confirm that effectual chemical bonds are established between MF surface and UV coating by the ICPTES and KH570 dual-silane treatments. SEM imaging shows that a seamless connection between MF and UV coating forms. Thus, MF surface modified by silane is a facile and effective strategy to enhance the adhesion of UV digital ink and this printing method shows enormous potentials in a wide range of applications.
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the Guangzhou Science, Technology and Innovation Commission (Grant No. 202103000011) and Guangdong Provincial Department of Forestry (Grant No. 2018KJCX035).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00218464.2022.2083509