A comparison of the emission characteristics of UV-LEDs and fluorescent lamps for polymerisation applications

Ultraviolet (UV) fluorescent lamps are widely used in the manufacturing process of biomaterials. The possibility of replacing these lamps with ultraviolet light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs) was investigated and the results are presented here. A number of emission characteristics, including the spectral output and intensity of both light sources were measured and compared. The warm up time of the UV-LED was found to be faster than that of the fluorescent lamp while their stabilities were found to be comparable. The ability of each source to initiate photopolymerisation in a biomaterial sample was monitored using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy and the percentage polymerisation calculated. The results presented here show that UV-LEDs are a viable alternative to UV fluorescent lamps in the manufacturing process of biomaterials.