As market demands for sustainability, efficiency and quality continue to grow, label and packaging converters are looking to UV LED solutions to meet their curing needs. The technology is no longer a niche field as LEDs have become the mainstream curing technology in many printing applications.
UV LED manufacturers assert that adopting UV LED technology enables companies to reduce their carbon footprint and increase profits by reducing energy consumption, preventing pollution and reducing waste. Upgrading to UV LED curing can reduce energy costs by 50%–80% overnight. With a return on investment of less than one year, utility rebates and state incentives, in addition to energy consumption savings, can significantly reduce the cost of upgrading to sustainable LED equipment.
The advancement of LED technology has also facilitated its implementation. These products are more efficient than previous generations, and their developments extend to inks and substrates across a range of printing markets, including digital inkjet, screen printing, flexo, and offset.
The latest generation of UV and UV LED curing systems are more efficient than their predecessors, requiring less power to achieve the same UV output. Upgrading an old UV system or installing a new UV press can result in immediate energy savings for label printers.
The industry has experienced significant growth over the past decade, driven by improvements in quality and increased regulatory requirements. Technological and energy policy advances over the past 5-10 years have generated considerable interest in LED curing, prompting companies to enhance the flexibility of their curing platforms. Many companies have transitioned from traditional UV platforms to LED or adopted a hybrid approach, using both UV and LED technologies on a single press to leverage the optimal technology for each application. For instance, LED is often used for white or dark colors, while UV is employed for varnishing.
The use of UV LED curing is experiencing a period of rapid growth, largely due to the development of commercially viable initiator encapsulation and improvements in LED technology. The implementation of more efficient power supply and cooling designs can enable higher irradiance levels at lower or the same power consumption, thereby enhancing the sustainability of the technology.
The transition to LED curing offers a number of significant advantages over traditional systems. LEDs offer a superior solution for curing inks, particularly white and highly pigmented inks, as well as laminate adhesives, foil laminates, C-square coatings and thicker formula layers. The longer UVA wavelengths emitted by LEDs are able to penetrate deeper into formulations, pass easily through films and foils, and are less absorbed by colour-producing pigments. This results in greater energy input into the chemical reaction, which in turn leads to improved opacity, a more efficient cure and faster production line speeds.
The UV LED output remains consistent throughout the product’s lifespan, whereas the arc lamp output decreases from the first exposure. With UV LEDs, there is greater assurance in the quality of the curing process when running the same job over several months, while maintenance costs are reduced. This results in less troubleshooting and fewer changes in output due to component degradation. These factors contribute to the enhanced stability of the printing process offered by UV LEDs.
For many processors, switching to LEDs represents a prudent decision. UV LED curing systems provide printers and manufacturers with process stability and real-time monitoring, offering a stable and reliable solution for their production needs. The latest technology can be adapted to align with the latest trends in manufacturing. There is a growing demand from customers for process control through real-time monitoring of UV LED curing lamps, in order to better support Industry 4.0 manufacturing. Many of them operate lights-out facilities, with no lights or personnel during processing, so it is essential that remote performance monitoring is available around the clock. In facilities with human operators, customers require immediate notification of any issues with the curing process in order to minimise downtime and waste.
Post time: Jul-23-2024