What are UV-curable inks?
UV-curable inks have been widely used in the printing industry for over 20 years and their utility continues to grow. Water-based and solvent-based inks used in other inkjet printers contain water or solvents that must evaporate during the drying or curing phase. With UV-curable inks, the curing takes place through the interaction of the ink ingredients and a strong UV light source. Basically, the ink is applied to the material surface and instantly solidified. Since UV contains little or no solvent, there is a lot of interest in using it because of the lack of VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which has an appealing environmental effect. UV-curable inks offer several key benefits for inkjet printers. One of the most notable advantages is the instant dry feature that leaves the graphic essentially cured and tack-free. As a result, UV-curable inks can be printed at high print speeds without the need for large complicated drying systems. Since UVcurable inks don’t dry in the print head,
These inks consist mainly of acrylic monomers with an initiator package. After printing, the ink is cured by exposure to strong UV light. The advantage of UV curable inks is that they “dry” as soon as they are cured. They can be applied to a wide range of uncoated substrates, and they produce a very robust image. The disadvantage is that they can be expensive, requiring curing modules in the printer to cure the ink.
