UV curable ink jet inks
Energy curing technology (also called radiation cure or UV/EB cure) has been a significant presence in the graphic arts industry for more than 30 years.
This is true in a wide array of market segments, including heavy penetration into the flexo, litho, letterpress, screen, and letterset ink areas. However, one of the most interesting new developments is in the area of UV curable inkjet inks.
While still small in terms of total volume (at ~5 per cent of the total UV ink market) compared with the more traditional litho, screen, and flexo markets, this is a rapidly growing application.
UV curable ink has already become a very important part of the wide format arena, with some forecasts predicting 35-60 per cent growth. This results in a doubling of printer and ink sales from 2007 to 2010. The instant cure, pigmented weathering stability, adhesion, better chemical resistance, low VOC, and overall print quality are major drivers.
The lack of drying (except under exposure to high intensity UV light) also is a major driver due to far reduced inkjet head clogging and the lack of purging needed to clean this out for water and solvent based inkjet.
UV curable inkjet applications are a very rapidly growing arena in energy curing market.
Formulating these inks is still a difficult challenge and the use of specialty acrylate functional reactive diluents like isodecyl acrylate; 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate; monofunctional aliphatic urethane acrylates; ethoxylated trimethylolpropane triacrylate; and alkoxylated pentaerythritol tetraacrylates can help with the difficult adhesion, flow and printability performance attributes needed.
Look for additional and more detailed formulating information on UV curable inkjet inks from Rahn in the form of the LabReport UV inkjet.
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