Industrial application of UV-curing jet inks

UV- curing inks are an important and growing sector of traditional printing, in processes such as flexography, gravure, offset and screen. The benefits of UV curing inks, including low or no VOC emissions, fast "drying" and excellent final print properties on a range of substrates, means that this type of ink technology will be critical to the expansion of ink jet in digital production printing in various industrial applications, including packaging printing. Ink jet printing of UV-curing inks raises interesting and significant challenges, for ink maker, head manufacturer and system integrator. This paper reviews some of these issues with reference to packaging printing, from an ink standpoint. Issues such as print quality, cure, adhesion, flexibility and health and safety are considered and the approaches being adopted to enable the implementation of UV inkjet systems.