BASF launches photoinitiators for packaging inks

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Claiming a technological breakthrough in the development of cationic photoinitiators for packaging inks, BASF has launched Irgacure 270, which allows the combination of fast UV curing and low emissions. The product’s applications include UV-curable printing inks and clear overprint varnishes. 

Photoinitiators are substances that form free radicals when they are exposed to UV light, and these radicals initiate polymerization reactions. Irgacure 270 is a new high-molecular-weight sulfonium salt claimed to fulfill the high standards that UV-curable inks for food packaging are required to meet. Extensive tests have shown that emissions and migration are both ‘very low’, according to the company. 

Irgacure 270 is mainly employed in UV-curable applications that demand low emissions. These include clear overprint varnishes, flexographic inks, screen inks and inkjet inks for printing food packaging made from a variety of substrates such as paperboard, plastics and metal. 

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