Over the years, energy curing has continuously made inroads among printers. At first, ultraviolet (UV) and electron beam (EB) inks were used for the instant cure capabilities. Today, sustainability benefits and energy cost savings of UV and EB inks are of increasing interest, and UV LED had become the fastest growing segment.

Understandably, leading ink manufacturers are putting significant R&D resources into new products for the energy curing market.

Flint Group’s EkoCure UV LED inks, with dual curing capabilities, present printers with a versatile choice and can be cured using standard mercury lamps or UV LED. In addition, EkoCure ANCORA F2, also with dual curing technology, has been specifically designed for food labels and packaging applications.   

“Flint Group is a leader in Narrow Web partly due to its focus on innovation,” said Niklas Olsson, global director product & commercial excellence, Narrow Web at Flint Group. “We continue to develop new technologies that can be printed using existing curing methods, which will significantly impact our industry for years to come.”

“We are developing many exciting new technologies in the UV/LED-UV/EB arena, so stay tuned for future announcements,” Jonathan Graunke, VP – UV/EB technology and assistant R&D director for INX International Ink Co., said. “On a more public offering, INX continues to develop the latest generation products for food packaging compliance. We are also committed to removing PTFE as a PFAS component in our product portfolios as the 80 or so proposed and enacted legislations from individual states put it within their broad scope.”

Ed Dedman, flexo technical support/product manager for Zeller+Gmelin Corp., observed that dual cure technologies are of much interest to customers.

“Given the very large number of UV curing legacy installations across the industry, as well as the aforementioned rise in new LED installs, all of our new ink system developments will be dual cure, able to be run on both UV & LED-equipped presses, which will help limit the ink inventory needed to run all jobs in a given pressroom,” Dedman said.

Fabian Köhn, global head of narrow web product management at Siegwerk, noted that Siegwerk continues to develop energy curable ink technologies worldwide, including dual-cure inks.

Most of our developments involve dual cure systems, technologies that cure with either UV mercury or UV LED technology,” Köhn said. “In Europe, Siegwerk is now for example offering SICURA Flex Dual Cure, a TMPTA-free formulated LED-UV and/or UV-curing ink series for non-NPH applications. The latest generations of ink systems suitable for food packaging like SICURA Nutriflex ORBIS Dual Cure and SICURA Nutriflex LEDtec for flexo printing are also being brought to the market.”

Jim Bishop, product manager UV, EB & conventional offset products at Sun Chemical, noted that Sun Chemical is focused on developing ink systems that help converters maximize press speeds.

“Low misting properties are essential and lithographic press performance must be outstanding to meet those evolving press speeds,” added Bishop. “Our formulations for sensitive applications, including food packaging, are produced from high-quality and compliant pigments to help generate enhanced mileage, excellent dot fidelity and safety. Low post odor remains a priority as well.”

Sun Chemical’s newest energy curing technologies include SunCure Advance II UV (web offset and sheetfed) and SunBeam Advance II EB (web offset), which are designed for Nestlé compliance and meet the latest low migration and low odor requirements, as well as the American Soybean Association requirements for soy content. These inks can be used with all energy curable packaging applications. Also from Sun Chemical is Polymatrix OPTA KC and Polyphotonics for LED, new chemistry for super high speed Komori commercial presses which maintain strong ink quality in a variety of applications.

SunWave Advance ll LED is designed for Nestlé compliance and low migration packaging, and is suitable for curing under both mercury UV and LED conditions with adhesion on paperboard used in sensitive packaging, such as cosmetics and filmic substrates, including those used for in-mold labeling. SunWave Aspire LED, Sun Chemical’s new UV/LED offset sheetfed inks, are designed for high-end paperboard and folding cartons.

Alexander Blasek, global project manager UV flexo at hubergroup, noted that hubergroup launched its new UV flexo series iray last year.

“iray includes all the products necessary for UV flexo printing – from printing inks and varnishes to adhesives and primers, both for food and non-food packaging,” Blasek said. “In extensive tests, we have ensured that all these products fit together perfectly so that we can assure a smooth production workflow and excellent printing results.

Blasek pointed out that other products of the hubergroup portfolio, such as the water-based ACRYLAC MGA Primer or solvent-based Gecko White, are also highly compatible.

“The advantage for customers is obvious: They can get all products from a single source,” Blasek added. “In addition, our inks and varnishes of the iray series are deinkable on paper and on film. We are happy to support customers in finding the best solutions for their needs and guide printers who want to enter the UV flexo business. One of our focus areas is IML applications because, in our opinion, they have great potential thanks to their high quality and several other advantages. Thus, our global team of experts is intensively working on innovations and sustainable IML solutions to meet the needs of this dynamic market.”

Roland Schröder, product manager UV Europe at hubergroup, reported that the LED UV ink series NewV news, developed for printing on rotary presses, is currently on the rise.

“NewV offers printers the opportunity to enter a new business segment by expanding their range to high-quality semi-commercials,” Schröder said. “For heatset printers, this series may also be interesting as it does not require gas and can, thus, reduce energy costs. Moreover, we are currently working intensively on low-migration UV sheet-fed inks for foil and tin applications. So, you can be sure that you will hear from us again soon.”