Flint Group unveils inks for UV LED curing

Flint Group Narrow Web is introducing a series of inks for UV LED curing under the EkoCure brand. The company says they will be the first commercially available inks designed for combination print formulated specifically for UV LED curing.

EkoCure is developed using specially selected photoinitiators that match the narrow and targeted wavelength area that is typical for UV LED lamp output. UV LED brings ecological and economic advantages: UV LED lamps are ozone and mercury free (which means improved worker and environmental safety); while energy consumption and manufacturing space are reduced.

‘We have partnered with Phoseon Technology UV LED lamps, and have tested our inks using their FirePower 16 W/cm2 on our Mark Andy 4150 press in our Center for Technical Excellence in Plymouth, Minnesota,’ said Tom Hammer, product manager narrow web North America for Flint Group.  ‘With the FirePower units on our press we have been able to experiment and test inks on several types of substrates, and in many print combinations. We have found success and have been able to run a “first ever” true UV LED combination print – using our newly developed 4-color flexo process inks in combination with UV rotary screen white.’

Niklas Olsson, global brand manager, Flint Group, commented: ‘The UV flexo ink series we have developed is based on bio-renewable resin technology as an added effort to address sustainability. Bio-renewable resins for UV products are a new development that will increase in use in the future; by combining this aspect with lower energy consuming UV LED lamps, it was a natural fit to brand this technology as EkoCure.

‘With the launch of EkoCure we are following our historical track record of many innovations in being first in the market. We have taken this initiative and believe that UV LED printing is the future technology as it offers so many positive attributes.’ 

Hammer concluded: ‘We have witnessed great advantages with UV LED lamps as the surface temperature is so much lower; we have been able to run heat sensitive substrates, such as shrink films, without any problem on a press without any special heat management.  This we believe is a true added value for many converters, as it is not possible with conventional UV lamps without having special web cooling systems in place.’

EkoCure is available in both UV flexo and UV rotary screen and exhibits ‘fantastic properties clearly matching the performance of traditional high performance UV ink technologies’, says the company.

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