UV ink technology has been around for more than 20 years, but until now it has not been an alternative production method for coldset printers. However, newly developed, more sophisticated UV-curable ink technologies are changing the landscape of the traditional coldset web printing operation.
UV-curable inks and varnishes typically consist of four main components: monomers, oligomers, pigments and photoinitiators. The photoinitiators are the catalysts that react to UV light of a certain wavelength, triggering a chain reaction that takes low molecular weight material (monomers and oligomers) and makes larger, high molecular weight polymers. These polymers then become so large by means of crosslinking that they form a continuous solid, or dry film.
- Companies:
- Flint Group