company news about How to solve the "cracking" problem in 3C manufacturing? UV technology with 5-second curing is key

In today's 3C electronics (computer, communication, and consumer electronics) manufacturing industry, the pace of iteration is almost brutal. While consumers cheer for a new phone with a thinner screen, more flexible display, and narrower bezels, on the other end of the production line, engineers may be losing sleep over a defect rate of one in a million.

A material revolution centered on UV curing technology is quietly underway. When "5-second curing" moves from a laboratory concept to production line reality, it brings far more than just speed. This signifies that competition in 3C manufacturing is shifting from "design-driven" to "materials and processes-driven," and UV monomer/oligomer technology is the key variable in this transformation.

In traditional 3C assembly, whether it's screen bonding, chip packaging, or structural component bonding, mainstream processes have long relied on "thermosetting" or "solvent evaporation." Thermosetting (such as epoxy resin) requires placing the product in an oven and baking it at a specific temperature (sometimes as high as 80-150°C) for tens of minutes or even hours. This is a huge bottleneck on automated production lines where every second counts. It not only lengthens the production cycle time but also occupies a significant amount of factory space (baking line) and consumes enormous amounts of electricity. Solvent-based adhesives rely on solvent evaporation; not only is the curing time uncontrollable, but the emitted VOCs (volatile organic compounds) pose a significant environmental hazard.

If "slowness" is merely an efficiency issue, then "cracking" is a fatal quality problem. The root cause of "cracking" lies in the "internal stress" generated during the material curing process. During thermosetting, materials undergo a process of "heating-curing-cooling." Different materials (such as glass, metal, and plastic) have vastly different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE). When they are forcibly bonded together and cooled, uneven shrinkage is equivalent to planting a "time bomb" inside the material. For increasingly sophisticated 3C products, this internal stress is catastrophic.

UV curing technology is not a new concept, but it was initially used primarily in low-requirement fields such as coatings and inks. Applying it to precision manufacturing in the 3C industry presents the challenge of resolving the "impossible triangle" of demanding speed, strength, and low stress. This is the core value of this solution.

Simply being fast isn't enough to call it innovation. The real breakthrough of this "5-second curing" solution lies in the refined formulation of "UV monomers/oligomers." The 3C industry is entering an era where "formulation is king." Past UV materials generally suffered from problems like "fast curing but brittle materials" and "high shrinkage rates," limiting their application in structural bonding with high reliability requirements. The "prone to cracking" issue stems not only from thermal stress but also from "curing shrinkage stress." The new generation of UV monomer/oligomer solutions achieves a balance between "low shrinkage" and "high toughness" through molecular structure design: The application of functional oligomers: Using long-chain, flexible polyurethane acrylate (PUA) or other modified oligomers as the "skeleton," they form a network structure with both rigidity and flexibility after curing. This is like adding "steel bars" and "elastic fibers" to cement, making the cured material "tough but not brittle," able to absorb impact and resist cracking. The art of balancing special monomers: Monomers are used to adjust viscosity and speed. However, traditional monomers (such as HEMA) have high shrinkage rates. The new approach uses special monomers with multiple functional groups and high molecular weights, which greatly reduces the volume shrinkage rate during curing while ensuring reactivity.

This is the confidence behind the "5-second curing" solution: within 5 seconds, it does more than just "harden"; it completes a precision molding process with "low stress and high toughness."

From "5 seconds" to "customization," challenges remain: the "shadow zone" problem: areas not exposed to UV light (such as the interior of complex structures) cannot cure. This has led to the development of dual curing systems such as "UV + heat" and "UV + moisture," increasing process complexity. Material costs: the R&D and production costs of high-performance oligomers and specialty monomers are currently higher than those of traditional epoxy resins. Formulation barriers: material formulations vary greatly depending on the application (such as the low dielectric constant requirements of OLED screens and the drop resistance requirements of structural components). This tests the deep integration and collaborative development capabilities between material suppliers and 3C manufacturers. It is foreseeable that future competition in the 3C industry will no longer be a single-dimensional competition. Whoever can master and control these new UV-curable materials first will be able to build an insurmountable moat in terms of "yield," "reliability," and "design innovation."