7 questions asked and answered about UV

I thought I knew just about everything in regards to Ultraviolet Curing.  Turns out there’s more to it than I thought, so I took 30 minutes and interviewed John Wilson, President of cureUV.com.  He has not only been involved with R&D but the invention and manufacturing of UV Systems as well.

1. What are the advantages to using UV curing inks as opposed to conventional solvent inks?

UV typically offers pluses on all important levels: economic, production time as well as convenience.

2. How green friendly are UV inks and coatings?

100% solids UV curable inks and coatings really are the benchmark for green technology going forward.  Virtually 99.9% VOC friendly in most all cases.

3. Is UV Printing/Coating a true time-saver?  How?

Yes, in both production speeds and time that it takes to finish a shippable product.

4. What is the cost difference in the UV Inks & Coatings vs Conventional/Solvent Inks & Clear Coats?

Usually the savings are not in the raw cost of UV products at a glance but when further evaluated most often savings are unmeasurable in both economic and production scenarios. (ie. increased production and more uptime, etc.)

5. How does using UV improve print quality?

Typically uv inks can be designed with more conscious attention on things such as tact levels, transfer capabilities resulting in more often a clearer, sharper image more consistently.  UV inks are constant in their performance characteristics, conventional inks change based on flash rates and mil rates making it far better relative to consistency of press operation.

6. How does a dichroic (purple coated) reflector have an influence on the heat absorption onto the substrate?

Dichroic materials are designed to filter specific wavelengths.  For example a dichroic coating formula can produce the ability to have IR passed through it while at the same time reflecting curable bandwidth such as UVA, hence theInfraRed is not reflected back to the product, only the curable energy.

7. What other uses are there for UV coating applications besides Plastic container/lid printing, web/label printing, Guitar/Wood flooring and cabinetry finishing and concrete/stone finishing?

The good news is in today’s technology uses are virtually unlimited.  UV Products as standard benchmark such as scratch-resistance and workability compared to any conventional products or methods.  It is a desired method for most all applications since it is so green friendly compared to anything else.

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