Application of the hottest UV ink in flexo printin

Application of UV ink in flexo printing

UV ink is also called UV ink. It uses a certain wavelength of UV radiation to turn liquid UV ink into solid ink through instantaneous photochemical reaction

uv ink has developed rapidly in the past 10 years, has entered a mature stage, and is recognized as a pollution-free ink variety in the world. At the 7th Asian radiation curing International Conference held in Malaysia last August, many information showed that the main application field of radiation curing materials in the world (including EB curing and u-component regional advantage V curing) is the printing industry. Its main varieties include: UV glazing oil, UV silk printing ink, UV offset printing ink, UV flexo printing ink, UV metal printing ink and UV electronic circuit ink, etc. According to information, in 1997, the consumption of UV flexo printing ink in the United States has reached 3000 tons, and is increasing at a rate of% every year

in recent years, domestic UV printing materials have also developed rapidly. According to statistical data, the consumption of domestic UV printing materials in 1998 has exceeded 2000L (including domestic and imported materials), which are mainly used for UV glazing, printed circuit board ink and UV silk screen printing ink. In addition, there are also some UV offset printing ink, UV embossing ink, etc. UV flexo printing ink is rarely used and is still in its infancy

uv flexo printing ink is widely valued and favored abroad, mainly because it has the following characteristics:

1. UV flexo printing ink is safe and reliable, solvent-free, nonflammable, and does not pollute the environment. It is suitable for packaging and printing materials with high sanitary requirements, such as food, beverages, tobacco, alcohol, drugs, etc. Flexographic UV ink has been used in the field of food packaging abroad for many years without any problems

2 Windows account for 80% of the wall where they are located. UV flexo printing ink has good printing adaptability, high printing quality, no change in physical properties during the printing process, non-volatile solvent, stable viscosity, and is not easy to paste and stack plates. It can be printed with high viscosity, strong inking force, high dot definition, good step reproduction, bright ink color, firm adhesion, and is suitable for fine product printing

3. UV flexo printing ink can be instantly dried, with high production efficiency and wide application range. It has good adhesion on different printing carriers such as paper, aluminum foil and plastic. The products can be stacked immediately after printing without adhesion

4. UV flexo printing ink has excellent physical and chemical properties. The process of UV curing and drying is the photochemical reaction of UV ink, that is, the process from linear structure to shape structure, so it has many excellent physical and chemical properties, such as water resistance, alcohol resistance, alcohol resistance, wear resistance, aging resistance, etc., which are inferior to other types of inks

5. UV flexo printing ink consumption is saved. Because there is no solvent volatilization and the effective ingredients are high, it can be converted into ink film by nearly 100% with the installation help provided by the manufacturer. Its amount is less than half of that of water ink or solvent ink, and it can greatly reduce the cleaning times of printing plates and embossing rollers, so the comprehensive cost is relatively low. Based on the above characteristics, UV flexo printing inks have obvious advantages and development prospects from the perspective of environmental protection, quality and technological development

I. UV light source: UV light source is required for each color deck of UV flexo printing. UV flexo printing inks of different colors have different ability to absorb ultraviolet rays. For example, yellow and magenta have low absorption ability and are easy to cure and dry, while blue and black have strong ability to absorb ultraviolet rays and are less easy to dry. The power of UV lamp can be allocated according to different colors, so as to ensure the reasonable drying of various colors of UV ink and save energy at the same time. Pay attention to the aging of UV light source, and replace the UV lamp tube in time to prevent incomplete curing and adhesion. The general service life of UV lamp is 1000 hours, and frequent startup will significantly shorten the service life of the lamp

II. Wrinkle roll: when using UV flexo ink, the eye angle of the ink roll should preferably be 30 ° or 60 °. The following are several commonly used ceramic corrugated rollers

2o0 line 9.5-11.0bcm corrugated roller: it can print opaque field patterns

360 line 4.5-6.5bcm corrugated roller: it can print field and line patterns

550 line cm wrinkle roller: it can print continuously adjustable image products

650 line 2.5bcm corrugated roller: it can print continuously adjustable image products

800 line 2.0bcm wrinkle roller: it can print fine continuously adjustable image products

III. rubber roller: the rubber roller must be able to resist UV ink. The commonly used rubber roller is generally made of EPDM rubber (EPDM rubber) or silicone rubber

IV. plates: Although the currently used flexographic photosensitive plates can basically be used for UV flexographic inks, it is best to choose plates with good UV ink resistance, such as DuPont's uvp-67 open type plates

v. ink viscosity the viscosity of UV flexographic ink is slightly higher than that of water-based ink or solvent flexographic ink, and the range is relatively wide, which can be in the range of 200 ~ 1000 CPS. Generally, the viscosity is 30o-500 CPS

VI. storage: UV flexo printing ink should be stored strictly away from light and heat. The storage temperature should be controlled at 5 ℃ -30 ℃, and the storage shelf life is generally half a year

VII. Additives: there are three kinds of additives commonly used in UV flexo printing inks: 1. UV active diluent; 2. UV curing accelerator; 3. UV ink cleaner

VIII. Safety protection: at present, there are two main points to prevent, one is the harm of UV radiation light source to human body, and the other is the harm of UV ink to human body. The former needs to use opaque materials to shield and seal the light source and strengthen ventilation and discharge treatment. The latter should be operated with gloves to prevent UV ink from directly contacting the skin. If UV ink splashes on the skin, it should be wiped dry first, and then cleaned immediately with soap and water

uv flexo printing ink and its process technology are still being improved, and new varieties and new equipment are also emerging. All these will promote the UV case printing technology to be more perfect

at present, the number of flexo printing machines installed with UV ink curing system in foreign countries is increasing, and the existing flexo printing machines are also constantly refitting UV ink curing system. It has become a development trend to replace water-based ink and solvent based ink with UV flexo printing ink, which has been widely used in wide and narrow flexo printing machines. Undoubtedly, the development prospect of UV flexo printing technology is very bright. The promotion and application of domestic UV flexo printing technology needs to be based on our national conditions and product needs, as well as the improvement of domestic equipment and equipment. With the increasingly stringent environmental protection requirements and quality requirements, it is believed that in the near future, domestic UV flexo printing technology will also have a greater development

reprinted from: ink information