IST Metz hosts UV LED conference

IST Metz played host to its inaugural LED Tech Talk event earlier this month, where the print industry came together to talk about the increasing significance of UV LED technology.

IST Metz has played host to its inaugural LED Tech Talk event earlier this month, where the print industry came together to talk about the increasing significance of LED technology

This included technical information on the curing of inks and coatings using UV LED technology and the difference to conventional UV technology.

On November 12-13, representatives from IST Metz, including managing director Dirk Jägers and Stefan Feil, its technical marketing manager, detailed the growth predictions for UV LED technology, such as those from market research institute Yole suggesting UV LED will achieve a market share of around 30 percent in 2016.

Feil said that for the first time this year, partner company Integration Technology Ltd, with whom IST Metz is in a strategic alliance, sold an equal number of systems with UV lamps and with LEDs.

Dr Erich Frank, member of the printing inks technical committee of the Industrial Association of German Coatings and Printing Inks, spoke about UV LED ink technology, with the key difference from conventional UV inks being the photoinitiators that are adapted to absorb at wavelengths of more than more than 350 nm and thus to suit the emissions of the LED radiators.

A panel discussion, chaired by Klemens Ehrlitzer, managing director of the German Association of Manufacturers of Self-Adhesive Labels and Narrow Web Converters, saw the speakers answer numerous questions, with differences between conventional UV and LED technology a key line of enquiry for attendees.

The use of UV LED technology was also demonstrated on both a flexo printing press and a sheet-fed offset printing press. The MBS-6 LED-prepared concept was used on the narrow web flexo press.

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