Electron Beam Curing Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 43.9% concentration. The top 5 of 48 ranked assignees hold 50 of the 114 records in scope — a leader at 19 filings followed by a fast-thinning field.
- Coatings and polymer chemistry dominate. C08L and C09D each cover 28.1% of records, with B32B laminates and B05D coating processes close behind — the claim space is chemistry- and process-heavy, not equipment-heavy.
- Filing has cooled from its 2017 peak. 13 records published in 2017 against 1 so far in 2026, with the last complete comparison (2021 to 2024) down 33%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (3 records) with 2024 (2) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 114 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the electron beam curing patent record actually shows
Electron beam curing replaces heat- or photoinitiator-driven cure with direct electron irradiation, and the patent record reflects a field built around formulation and process control rather than beam hardware itself. Search terms tied to accelerating voltage, dose uniformity, inert atmosphere and line speed pull records concentrated in coatings, adhesives and laminate chemistry — the parts of the process a formulator or converter actually touches.
The 114 records in scope span filings from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, with publication activity peaking in 2017 and tapering since. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the most recent one or two years understate real filing activity and should be read as provisional.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 114-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
A 2017 peak, then a cooling curve
Filings ran at 13 in 2017, the peak year so far, and the last fully comparable window — 2021 to 2024 — shows a 33% decline (3 to 2). Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as still filling in rather than as confirmed decline.
Coatings and polymer chemistry lead the classification mix
C08L (polymer compositions) and C09D (coatings, paints and inks) each sit at 28.1% of the 114 records, with C08J polymer processing at 21.9% and B32B laminates at 21.1%. B05D coating processes, B29C plastics shaping, C09J adhesives and C08K additive use round out the mix, each present in a meaningful minority of records — consistent with a field whose claims sit on formulation and process integration rather than the beam source.
Shares are the percentage of the 114 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Electron Beam Curing with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about electron beam curing and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe records that anchor citation and claim scope
US4514471A — Process for the preparation of electron beam curing gypsum panel
Disclosed is a process for the preparation of an electron beam curing gypsum panel which comprises subjecting a hydrated gypsum slurry containing or free of an additive, fibrous material, fine aggregates, water, etc. to defoaming, setting and drying to form a gypsum substrate, coating an electron beam curing resin composition on the surface of the gypsum substrate to form a coated film, and irradiating accelerated electron beam on the coated film thereby to be cured.Filed by Taisei Corporation, this 1985 record predates most of the dataset and shows the coat-then-irradiate gypsum-substrate approach was established well before the 2015–2026 filing window this page covers.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6165220A | Wear resistant surface-gradient crosslinked polyethylene | 216 |
| 2 | WO2010056543A1 | Electron beam cured, nonfunctionalized silicone pressure sensitive adhesives | 191 |
| 3 | US6494917B1 | Wear resistant surface-gradient crosslinked polyethylene | 159 |
| 4 | US20080292366A1 | Developing Roller, Charging Roller, Conductive Roller and Method for Producing the Same | 72 |
| 5 | US20110206924A1 | Electron beam cured, nonfunctionalized silicone pressure sensitive adhesives | 51 |
| 6 | US6235353B1 | Low dielectric constant films with high glass transition temperatures made by electron beam curing | 38 |
| 7 | US5051200A | Flexible high energy magnetic blend compositions based on rare earth magnetic particles in highly saturated n… | 38 |
| 8 | US5002677A | Flexible high energy magnetic blend compositions based on ferrite particles in highly saturated nitrile rubbe… | 32 |
| 9 | US20090084574A1 | Poly(arylene ether) composition and its use in the fabrication of extruded articles and coated wire | 30 |
| 10 | US4514471A | Process for the preparation of electron beam curing gypsum panel | 27 |
Citation counts inside this corpus favour older filings and should be read as a signal of influence on later filers, not as a marker of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Read together, concentration, class composition and jurisdiction spread point to where claim space is occupied and where it still has room.
The top of the field is dense, the rest is a long tail
Fifty of 114 records sit with five assignees out of 48 ranked; the leader alone accounts for 19. Beyond tenth place (4 records), filing activity thins into single- and double-digit contributors, meaning most of the ranked field holds only one or two families each.
Formulation chemistry, not beam engineering, carries the claims
Polymer compositions (C08L) and coatings/paints/inks (C09D) are each present in 28.1% of records, with polymer processing (C08J, 21.9%) and laminates (B32B, 21.1%) close behind. Claim density sits in what gets cured and how it is applied, not in accelerator design.
Activity has cooled from its 2017 peak
Thirteen records published in 2017, the high point of the series; the 2021-to-2024 comparison of 3 to 2 records is the most recent window that can be read as complete, and it points down rather than up.
Filing is split evenly between Japan and the US, with Europe close behind
Japan and the United States each account for 29 records, EPO for 23 and WIPO/PCT for 10, with AT and India at 5 each. No single office dominates the way the assignee ranking is dominated by its leader.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to electron beam curing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where activity has slowed
The ranked field runs to 48 companies on 114 records, but momentum in the most recent year has gone quiet even among the largest historical filers.
One filer sets the pace, then the field drops off fast
The leading assignee holds 19 of 114 records; by fifth place that figure is down to 5, and by tenth place to 4 — a steep early drop rather than a gradual one.
Recent-year activity has gone quiet across the leaders
Of the assignees tracked for recent-year momentum, only one shows a filing in the latest year (1); the rest, including the dataset's largest historical filers, show none — consistent with the broader post-2017 cooling, and with publication lag still working through the most recent filings.
Co-filing is limited and concentrated in a few pairs
Ten co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, with the strongest pairing recurring across 6 records — collaboration exists but is not the field's default filing pattern.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Sciences Inc. | 1 | — |
| 3M Innovative Properties Co. | 0 | — |
| Sun Chemical Corp. | 0 | — |
| SABIC Innovative Plastics IP B.V. | 0 | — |
| LIU JUNKANG J | 0 | — |
| GEORGE CLAYTON A | 0 | — |
| Taisei Corporation | 0 | — |
| Kansai Paint Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, sourcing new claim territory, or tracking a competitor.
Check freedom-to-operate against the dense classes
C08L, C09D, C08J and B32B carry the most records; any new formulation or laminate structure in electron beam curing should be checked against filings in these classes before drafting.
Explore claim clusters in Eureka →Probe the under-claimed branches for a first-filer position
Photoinitiator-free formulation and dose-uniformity-at-speed claims sit outside the densest classes, which is where a narrowly drafted first claim has the best chance of standing alone.
Map white space in Eureka →Track the leader's recent filings for signal, not just count
The top assignee's 19-record lead came from earlier years; recent-year momentum has gone quiet across nearly all tracked assignees, so a family-by-family read of what is still moving matters more than the raw ranking.
Monitor assignee activity in Eureka →Questions practitioners ask about this field
One assignee leads the ranked field with 19 of the 114 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 5 and the tenth-ranked at 4. The top 5 of 48 ranked assignees together account for 43.9% of all 114 records, and the top 10 account for 64.0%. Beyond that point the field thins into a long tail of companies holding only one or two families each, so most participants are not repeat filers.
Filing peaked in 2017 at 13 published records and has cooled since; the most recent complete comparison, 2021 to 2024, shows a 33% decline from 3 to 2 records. Figures for 2025 and 2026 should not be read as confirming further decline, because publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months and those years are still filling in. On the evidence available, the trend through 2024 points down rather than up.
Records are classified across several IPC subclasses because a single patent can carry more than one class. Polymer compositions (C08L) and coatings, paints and inks (C09D) are each present in 28.1% of the 114 records, with polymer processing (C08J) at 21.9% and layered products and laminates (B32B) at 21.1%. Coating processes (B05D), plastics shaping (B29C), adhesives (C09J) and polymer additives (C08K) each appear in a smaller but still notable share, showing the field's claims concentrate in formulation and application rather than in the beam source itself.
Japan and the United States are the two largest receiving offices in this dataset, each with 29 records, followed by the European Patent Office at 23 and the WIPO/PCT route at 10. Austria and India each show 5 records. The near-even split between Japan and the US suggests filers are pursuing parallel protection in both markets rather than treating one as primary.
US4514471A, assigned to Taisei Corporation and dated 1985, claims a process for making an electron beam curing gypsum panel: forming a gypsum substrate, coating it with an electron beam curing resin composition, and irradiating the coated film to cure it. It predates the 2015–2026 filing window covered by this dataset by three decades, so any expired term aside, its claims are specific to gypsum-substrate coating rather than to electron beam curing generally. A new filing on a different substrate or resin chemistry would need its own freedom-to-operate check against the denser recent classes rather than relying on this one record's age to clear the way.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.