Editor's Note: This article has been excerpted from an earlier issue of Wood & Wood Products. To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Kimball Office, a unit of Kimball Intl, serves market segments where highly functional interiors intersect with top quality design. Just a couple years ago, Kimball Office made a significant leap in its process manufacturing, developing a proprietary UV-cured finish so durable it allows assembly of fully-finished engineered and solid wood components.

The process is particularly noteworthy, say Kimball Office executives, because it assures office air quality by eliminating off-gassing. The coating, branded Pura, resists cracking, migration of chemicals from vinyl, is abrasion resistant, and withstand solvents, even acetone. Pura coatings themselves emit no VOCs during production or after. “When Pura comes out of the UV curing line it is as hard as it will get,” says Steve Brewster, corporate sustainability manager.

Pura is applied in two ways. For complex shapes, Pura solids are suspended in a water-based formulation and sprayed on. For flat panels, Pura is applied in 100 percent solids form in a Cefla precision roll coater. Brewster says the Pura coating has reinvented production of its office interior products. “We are able to get color and finishes into areas where we couldn’t.”

“We have a data package to manage adding the colorant,” adds Sam Ruckriegel, director of finish and wood technologies. The data file activates directional lamps in the halogen stain tunnel to flash — minimizing energy usage.

Source: WoodworkingNetwork.com/RedBook