Drying, Curing & UV
UV printing from Roland DG offers versatility to businesses in Covid-19 era
he past year has been challenging for the print industry and has forced print businesses to rapidly adapt to meet the new demands of a post-pandemic world. But a recent study by Roland DG revealed that print professionals remain cautiously optimistic for the future, as the Covid-19 vaccine begins to be rolled out on a larger scale. A total of 36% of businesses stated that their key focus over the next three years was to increase production capacity, while a further 24% highlighted expansion as their primary objective. It revealed that 9% of these print businesses are hoping to expand into new applications, such as UV using updated technologies. Branching into UV makes sense, as we enter this new era of printing, which demands print shops to be more flexible than ever before. Printing with UV is versatile and easily adaptable: perhaps the most important qualities of printing applications in 2021.
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The VersaUV LEF2 series, Roland’s latest generation of benchtop UV printers is hugely popular with print businesses with UV applications. The series employs UV- LED lamps to instantly cure ink, and can print directly onto plastics, leather, wood, fabrics and other materials, allowing users to add high-quality graphics and simulated embossing to a broad range of items, including curved surfaces, and gives users a choice of gloss or matt finishes. For all print shop owners, a key
consideration is the time and effort required to prepare the substrates for printing. With Roland’s LEF2 range, the majority of substrates just require a simple wipe with a clean, soft cloth. Glass and polished metals may require a primer to achieve the desired level of ink adhesion.
To further increase versatility, the LEF2-300D, a recent addition to the series, features an expanded workspace that supports a height of up to 200 mm
compared to the standard model. With the added height, the LEF2-300D can print onto not only thicker materials, but also a wider variety of shapes by accommodating diverse sizes and types of jigs.
Roland’s IU-1000F UV-LED flatbed printer is also a powerful solution for printing larger format promotional items. It delivers the speed and accurate colour reproduction, and its high-density, high-adhesion UV inks are compatible with a variety of substrates.
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rolanddg.co..uk
GEW unveils Excimer UV mattifying system G
EW has launched its EXC Excimer UV lamp system., which utilises dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) lamps to produce quasi-monochromatic vacuum ultraviolet radiation, typically at 172nm. This radiation is commonly used for mattification of surface coatings, where the elimination of matting agents can significantly improve stain resistance and durability of the final product.
Gloss levels down to 2 GU can easily be achieved and the high-efficiency lamps only require 5W/cm input power. Instant on/ off switching enables customers to switch between high gloss (80 GU or higher) and matt finish products in seconds. Other applications include modification of surface tension for improved adhesion, or surface cleaning for semiconductor and medical industries. GEW managing director of sales, Robert Rae explains: “GEW Excimer lamps can be produced in widths from 12cm up to 230cm and at up to 30mW/cm2 peak irradiance, the GEW system is one of the most powerful systems available worldwide.
222nm and 308nm variants are available and lamps can be custom integrated to the customer’s specific application, including provision for all required nitrogen inerting and control. They can also be seamlessly integrated into the wider GEW UV systems which may be required for pre-gelling and post-cure, so that GEW can provide a turnkey curing or cleaning solution for any process.” He continues: “Excimer technology for mattification eliminates the need for coatings to have additive mattifying agents. These agents, often mixed on site, can introduce significant variability and time to the coating process, which is completely eliminated with
Excimer. In addition, the finished product is susceptible to “polishing” during further processing and often has poor physical and chemical durability. Again, Excimer coatings, with its 100% solid content, increase hardness, stain resistance and give preferable haptics (soft touch). Further, pre-gelling the coatings with a UV LED lamp prior to excimer exposure allows for some control over the granularity and gloss level of the result.” It is imperative to use nitrogen inerting with mattifying Excimer systems to ensure homogenous irradiance and prevent the generation of excess ozone. GEW has a long history of producing inert gas curing chambers for a wide variety of large-scale industrial applications, and GEW’s latest generation of inerting systems have been precisely developed to allow easy access for webbing up and maintenance.
Typical applications include vinyl flooring, finish and wrapping foils, décor paper, plastic films and glass.
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gewuv.com
convertermag.com
February 2021
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