Energy Curing: Future Is Bright

Energy-curable ink and coating demand continues to be a bright spot. Its growth is driven by the fast curing speeds and excellent performance characteristics of UV and EB (electron beam) curable inks, as well as by environmental advantages of reduced solvents. In addition to curing quickly, these inks are ideal for high-quality printing, offering excellent adhesion, chemical and moisture resistance and gloss. They're also versatile—usable on a wide range of substrates.

UV has carved niches in screen and flexo printing, and there's interest in UV inkjet because of curing speeds and chemical-resistance advantages. In the sheetfed offset market, meanwhile, more printers are offering UV and hybrid-UV printing.

“We've seen strong growth in energy-curable inks and coatings,” says Rodney Balmer, Flint's global R&D director for sheetfed inks. “Customers need speed and rapid turnaround,” he notes. “Newer UV litho inks have closed the gap in performance and provide the ease of use of conventional products. They've overcome the hurdles that used to stand in the way of printers taking advantage of the productivity benefits that UV inks offer.”

Don Duncan, PhD and director of research at Wikoff Color, notes: “We have seen steady growth in UV litho and UV flexo. EB litho is a growing area, too. Much of the UV litho growth has been due to UV hybrids and the desire of printers to run both UV litho and oil-based litho on the same press.”

Balmer notes that there is also growing interest in UV in the web market. “We've seen a lot of interest in web offset UV and EB for packaging,” he says. “Printers are finding that offset's makeready times are significantly lower than that of gravure. The high speed of web printing and the fast finish of UV inks are increasing productivity and flexibility, especially on short- to mid-length runs. With the new hybrid press configurations, they can incorporate flexo or gravure capabilities, which give them even more options and versatility.”

Energy curing may find new opportunities in many new applications, including “anything where speed and productivity are important, and that's just about everything,” Balmer says. “In the past, curing speed has limited the speed at which presses could run.” New UV inks now cure fast enough to perform at speeds in excess of 1,400 fpm, which is the current maximum for forms presses.

“Most printers are requiring product formulations with enhanced rheological and color properties which will allow them to print a wide latitude of jobs, including high-speed work to graphically correct commercial grades,” says Steven Lazure, VP operations for UV ink supplier Zeller+Gmelin. “As press speeds continue to increase, we as ink manufacturers are challenged to satisfy the need for high-speed ink transfer and cure rates while maintaining high-quality print characteristics.”

As higher raw material and operational costs impact the price of UV and EB inks and coatings, demand ultimately has not slackened. “Printers seem willing to pay for the energy-curable inks because they see the gains from improved productivity,” Balmer says.

“Energy-curable inks are not penetrating commodity printing applications like newspapers and other publication processes for reasons beyond just cost,” Duncan says. “Press speed can be a limitation. The current generation of energy-curable inks will not run and cure at 2,000 to 3,000 fpm. However, where there is a performance-based need—like adhesion, sharp printing, rub/scuff resistance or chemical/moisture resistance—energy-curable inks are the low-cost option.”