Catherine Diamond, Associate Editor11.30.15
Energy curing technologies have been growing in popularity due to their utility, eco-friendly standing and usefulness in a wide range of applications. The process is often referred to as radiation curing, or “radcure,” because both ultraviolet (UV) and electron bean (EB) are radiant energy sources. Unlike other methods of curing, exposure to light is comparably non-hazardous (the effects of overexposure are similar to sunburn), and typically less expensive than conventional coatings. Combined with improvements in overall quality over the last few years – no more yellowing or cracking – this market has made notable gains.
According to Jonathan Graunke, VP - UV/EB technology, INX International Ink Co., the UV/EB market has made notable gains over the last year.
“We are seeing solid growth across our UV/EB inks and coatings, with sheetfed UV, H-UV type and LED being exceptionally strong. We are also seeing high growth in our UV/EB coatings offerings,” he said.
Graunke added that the general commercial sheetfed UV market is doing very well for INX.
“This is partially driven by our growth in LED and H-UV type technologies,” he said. “We also are seeing high growth in products for food packaging applications, where our products are designed to minimize risk of contamination, and fit the current regulatory landscape on a global scale.”
Sun Chemical’s Tony Renzi, VP, product management packaging inks, North American Inks, said that the company did see growth in 2015 as compared to 2014.
“UV inks for commercial sheetfed was up marginally with most growth coming from the packaging market, especially UV flexo, narrow web, tag and label, folding carton and other emerging applications in flexible packaging,” he said.
Yu Adachi, corporate communication department, Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co., Ltd., said that his company has seen increased sales in products with high UV sensitivity expanded, not only in Japan but also on a global scale, particularly in Europe.
“Toyo Ink, in collaboration with press manufacturers, developed the highly reactive UV printing ink system in 2008,” he said.
“Highly reactive UV printing systems exhibit less ozone- and heat-generating wavelengths compared to conventional UV. Not only do highly reactive inks shorten lead times due to their instant-dry properties, but they also address bottleneck issues of previous systems; highly reactive UV systems do not require an ozone filtration system and run with less UV lamps. Such advances make it possible for printers to economize on equipment and energy use. Thus, we have seen a rise in the adoption of UV technology primarily among commercial printers looking to tap into the productivity, eco and cost advantages that this technology offers.”
Adachi added that the market for UV inks and highly reactive UV inks continues to grow driven by an expanding packaging market with a wider range of base substrates as well as a growing commercial printing market brought about by UV’s superior resistance and cost-saving benefits.
“New investment in UV printing equipment is aggressively progressing, and the rate of conventional oil-based printers switching to UV technology is rapidly on the rise,” he said. “At the moment, UV inks and highly reactive UV inks do not account for a substantial portion of the entire ink industry, but they are expected to expand in demand and application.”
By region, Adachi added, metallized boards for cigarette and alcohol package labels is the main market in China and East Asia, while demand is big for commercial printing and packaging applications in the US and countries in Europe. In particular, he continued, applications for film packaging is showing signs of significant growth.
“Even in Japan, the market has been developing primarily centered on commercial printing applications, in line with the growing demand for highly reactive UV printing systems. Demand trend is believed to be a result of UV inks gaining greater popularity in emerging economies from a design and functionality stance, whereas greater economy is the focus in industrialized nations,” he said.
Robert Doerffel, head of corporate communications Europe for hubergroup Deutschland GmbH, said that his company has seen growth in mainly the packaging market and “referring to commercial printing, the inks for curing technologies with iron-doped emitters or LED.”
He added, “The inks for curing technologies with iron-doped emitters are very popular at the moment. Many new presses are installed with this energy-saving and ozone-free driers and those presses are grabbing market shares from conventional sheetfed,” he added.
Environmental Advantages
The environmental impact of both a product and a process are significant considerations for nearly all global companies today.
Conventional curing processes are solvent-based; the use of UV or EB coatings can reduce the environmental consequences of the process.
“More than the air permitting advantages, the environmental impact of generating less waste by having product that is stable and instantly ready for post processing is what may be driving customers,” said Graunke of INX. “Also, newer technologies like LED for commercial printing is allowing some customers to generate tax credits for moving to best available control technologies. This helps cover the initial cost of investment. It is certainly something printers should investigate in their local. Another big advantage is the lack of mercury from the light source.”
Renzi, of Sun Chemical, said that the environmental advantages of using UV and EB curing is an important consideration for their customers.
“UV inks give our customers another way to be eco-efficient, and deliver economically competitive goods and services that satisfy their customers’ needs and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing their ecological impact and resource intensity throughout the life-cycle. The UV inks allow customers to conserve energy in their printing process and use products that are manufactured with little to no volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
“Additionally,” Renzi added, “UV/EB printing and coating can reduce total production costs by instant drying through the curing process, allowing for additional processing and finishing immediately, and in many cases, in-line with the printing process.
“Further environmental advantages can be seen through some of the latest innovations in the market which are bringing newer and lower energy curing systems, such as LED. Some printing processes that employ energy cured products oftentimes require less wash ups, further reducing VOCs and the generation of hazardous waste,” he said.
Toyo’s Adachi said that UV ink technology is appealing to customers because it does not contain solvents that emit VOCs and the entire printing process is powderless. “This results in faster turnaround times, a cleaner pressroom environment and lower production costs,” he said.
Food Packaging Applications
According to RadTech Europe, the European Association for UV/EB curing technology, there have been ongoing developments to increase the performance of UV inks for food packaging and ensure their suitability for use. The organization says brand owners such as Nestlé have instituted their own company-specific food packaging production standards. Food safety has also been the driver for a raft of regulatory initiatives across Europe providing a framework for the use of inks in food packaging – initiatives that reflect the importance of the issue to all involved in the packaging print supply chain.
“Many ink companies now have the capability to develop products and do analytical risk assessment of printed packaging to ensure fitness for use,” said INX’s Graunke. “While UV/EB is easy to detect should it migrate due to the chemical structure of the materials, UV/EB formulas can readily be designed to minimize migration risk. The advantages of being able to print so many materials and having the cured ink properties make UV/EB a good choice for food packaging applications.”
Sun Chemical’s Renzi said that the company does manufacture UV and EB ink and coating formulations specifically for food packaging where low migration is essential.
“ We develop low migration UV inks and coatings that avoid the use of low molecular weight raw materials including solvents, use polymeric photoinitiators, and are fast curing with a high cross-link density,” he said.
“Low migration EB inks and coatings are also developed which provide for optimum curing with irradiation by an electronic beam. Curing usually takes place in an inerted chamber with a nitrogen atmosphere preferred when producing food packaging. We’re currently seeing growing interest in EB technology for use on flexible packaging applications,” he concluded.
For its part, Adachi said Toyo has made ensuring food safety a top priority “as brand owners are already ensuring strict compliance with regulatory standards.”
“As an ink manufacturer, it is critical to understand the industry’s need to address potential chemical migration risks in the packaging structure of consumer products. Migration compliance, however, is dependent on many factors in the manufacturing process, such as curing and substrate type in addition to ink application,” he added.
The Future of LED
LED curing has been gaining in popularity over the last few years, due in large part to its cost-effectiveness.
“The advantages of LED UV are pretty well documented these days,” said Graunke. “The potential for power savings is the obvious one, yet not necessarily from the actual running of the LED UV lights. It’s the instant on/off where the energy savings really show, as you do not need to keep the UV light in standby mode. Also, the need for air flow is essentially gone, and there is currently no ozone produced. The lack of additional exhausting means installation on retrofits is fast. Another advantage of LED UV is the minimizing of IR heat; there is much less distortion with temperature sensitive substrates. On offset presses, many setups are currently using only one LED UV light, further cutting energy use.”
Graunke added that the current generation of LED UV lights actually produces very high peak irradiance intensity. This should continue to grow, he said, and the movement to lower wavelength output offerings will allow for the blending of LED UV chips, which may drive the technology even more into the mainstream.
“For the near term future, LED UV could become the choice for printers looking to retrofit equipment to obtain the advantages of energy curable printing,” he said.
Peter Saunders, global business director, digital, Sun Chemical, said that there is certainly a lot to gain from the developments in UV LED.
“LED lamps are especially useful for heat sensitive materials like plastic or film,” he said. “Unlike mercury lamps which require chilled rollers to reduce effects of heat on substrate, LED doesn’t require those because its infrared–free output has the ability to deliver energy to cure and keep things cool at the same time. Additionally, UV LED has a longer lifespan than mercury lamps and there is dramatically less drop off in performance over time. In terms of market share, we know LED is growing. In faster wide format inkjet presses, mercury lamps still dominate, but we would expect LED to become a major part of digital label and packaging presses as technology develops.
He added, “We certainly do expect big things from UV LED curing at Sun Chemical in the inkjet field. The improvements in the power output of UV LED lamps has increased achievable line speed and has allowed us scope to develop inks more suitable for applications based on speed and single pass technology, as used in labels and narrow web. We know that dose of UV is a key element and it has been proven that LED lamps can deliver the required dose to create robust ink films. The LED lamp integrators have worked hard to maximize cure potential with novel system designs and a wide range of options, such as air or water cooling, to suit the needs of the printer OEM. We continue to develop our full range of UV LED inkjet solutions for wide format, label and other industrial applications such as tampo print replacement and décor.”
Toyo’s Adachi pointed out that generally, the drawbacks of UV ink systems are the ozone generated by UV irradiation, the need for ozone filtration exhausts, increased electricity costs due to multiple lamp use, and damage to the printed sheet itself from heat exposure.
“LED UV systems that rely on highly reactive UV inks, however, address these issues and are greatly contributing to the expansion of the UV ink market and its applications,” he said.
Doerffel, of hubergroup, said that the market share of LED is currently estimated to be 2% of the energy curing ink systems, which is even below the EB technology with its enormous investment efforts for drier-technology on press.
“The LED technology has slight advantages in energy consumption, but is coming with other challenges instead,” he said.
“The emitted wavelength-bands of LED are so narrow, that the available choice and necessary amount of photoinitiators are not offering a lot of room for creativity. “
In terms of the future of LED, Doerffel said that it could one day become a leading energy curing technology, though not in the near future. First, he said, there would have to be a change in regulatory preconditions, like a banning of mercury in lamps.
“But that scenario is neither in discussion, nor is it very likely to become reality. Lamps that are based on this technology would be really hard to replace in many areas of application – not only printing. Currently UV LED still includes some challenges that can’t only be solved from the inks’ side,” he said.
According to Jonathan Graunke, VP - UV/EB technology, INX International Ink Co., the UV/EB market has made notable gains over the last year.
“We are seeing solid growth across our UV/EB inks and coatings, with sheetfed UV, H-UV type and LED being exceptionally strong. We are also seeing high growth in our UV/EB coatings offerings,” he said.
Graunke added that the general commercial sheetfed UV market is doing very well for INX.
“This is partially driven by our growth in LED and H-UV type technologies,” he said. “We also are seeing high growth in products for food packaging applications, where our products are designed to minimize risk of contamination, and fit the current regulatory landscape on a global scale.”
Sun Chemical’s Tony Renzi, VP, product management packaging inks, North American Inks, said that the company did see growth in 2015 as compared to 2014.
“UV inks for commercial sheetfed was up marginally with most growth coming from the packaging market, especially UV flexo, narrow web, tag and label, folding carton and other emerging applications in flexible packaging,” he said.
Yu Adachi, corporate communication department, Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co., Ltd., said that his company has seen increased sales in products with high UV sensitivity expanded, not only in Japan but also on a global scale, particularly in Europe.
“Toyo Ink, in collaboration with press manufacturers, developed the highly reactive UV printing ink system in 2008,” he said.
“Highly reactive UV printing systems exhibit less ozone- and heat-generating wavelengths compared to conventional UV. Not only do highly reactive inks shorten lead times due to their instant-dry properties, but they also address bottleneck issues of previous systems; highly reactive UV systems do not require an ozone filtration system and run with less UV lamps. Such advances make it possible for printers to economize on equipment and energy use. Thus, we have seen a rise in the adoption of UV technology primarily among commercial printers looking to tap into the productivity, eco and cost advantages that this technology offers.”
Adachi added that the market for UV inks and highly reactive UV inks continues to grow driven by an expanding packaging market with a wider range of base substrates as well as a growing commercial printing market brought about by UV’s superior resistance and cost-saving benefits.
“New investment in UV printing equipment is aggressively progressing, and the rate of conventional oil-based printers switching to UV technology is rapidly on the rise,” he said. “At the moment, UV inks and highly reactive UV inks do not account for a substantial portion of the entire ink industry, but they are expected to expand in demand and application.”
By region, Adachi added, metallized boards for cigarette and alcohol package labels is the main market in China and East Asia, while demand is big for commercial printing and packaging applications in the US and countries in Europe. In particular, he continued, applications for film packaging is showing signs of significant growth.
“Even in Japan, the market has been developing primarily centered on commercial printing applications, in line with the growing demand for highly reactive UV printing systems. Demand trend is believed to be a result of UV inks gaining greater popularity in emerging economies from a design and functionality stance, whereas greater economy is the focus in industrialized nations,” he said.
Robert Doerffel, head of corporate communications Europe for hubergroup Deutschland GmbH, said that his company has seen growth in mainly the packaging market and “referring to commercial printing, the inks for curing technologies with iron-doped emitters or LED.”
He added, “The inks for curing technologies with iron-doped emitters are very popular at the moment. Many new presses are installed with this energy-saving and ozone-free driers and those presses are grabbing market shares from conventional sheetfed,” he added.
Environmental Advantages
The environmental impact of both a product and a process are significant considerations for nearly all global companies today.
Conventional curing processes are solvent-based; the use of UV or EB coatings can reduce the environmental consequences of the process.
“More than the air permitting advantages, the environmental impact of generating less waste by having product that is stable and instantly ready for post processing is what may be driving customers,” said Graunke of INX. “Also, newer technologies like LED for commercial printing is allowing some customers to generate tax credits for moving to best available control technologies. This helps cover the initial cost of investment. It is certainly something printers should investigate in their local. Another big advantage is the lack of mercury from the light source.”
Renzi, of Sun Chemical, said that the environmental advantages of using UV and EB curing is an important consideration for their customers.
“UV inks give our customers another way to be eco-efficient, and deliver economically competitive goods and services that satisfy their customers’ needs and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing their ecological impact and resource intensity throughout the life-cycle. The UV inks allow customers to conserve energy in their printing process and use products that are manufactured with little to no volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
“Additionally,” Renzi added, “UV/EB printing and coating can reduce total production costs by instant drying through the curing process, allowing for additional processing and finishing immediately, and in many cases, in-line with the printing process.
“Further environmental advantages can be seen through some of the latest innovations in the market which are bringing newer and lower energy curing systems, such as LED. Some printing processes that employ energy cured products oftentimes require less wash ups, further reducing VOCs and the generation of hazardous waste,” he said.
Toyo’s Adachi said that UV ink technology is appealing to customers because it does not contain solvents that emit VOCs and the entire printing process is powderless. “This results in faster turnaround times, a cleaner pressroom environment and lower production costs,” he said.
Food Packaging Applications
According to RadTech Europe, the European Association for UV/EB curing technology, there have been ongoing developments to increase the performance of UV inks for food packaging and ensure their suitability for use. The organization says brand owners such as Nestlé have instituted their own company-specific food packaging production standards. Food safety has also been the driver for a raft of regulatory initiatives across Europe providing a framework for the use of inks in food packaging – initiatives that reflect the importance of the issue to all involved in the packaging print supply chain.
“Many ink companies now have the capability to develop products and do analytical risk assessment of printed packaging to ensure fitness for use,” said INX’s Graunke. “While UV/EB is easy to detect should it migrate due to the chemical structure of the materials, UV/EB formulas can readily be designed to minimize migration risk. The advantages of being able to print so many materials and having the cured ink properties make UV/EB a good choice for food packaging applications.”
Sun Chemical’s Renzi said that the company does manufacture UV and EB ink and coating formulations specifically for food packaging where low migration is essential.
“ We develop low migration UV inks and coatings that avoid the use of low molecular weight raw materials including solvents, use polymeric photoinitiators, and are fast curing with a high cross-link density,” he said.
“Low migration EB inks and coatings are also developed which provide for optimum curing with irradiation by an electronic beam. Curing usually takes place in an inerted chamber with a nitrogen atmosphere preferred when producing food packaging. We’re currently seeing growing interest in EB technology for use on flexible packaging applications,” he concluded.
For its part, Adachi said Toyo has made ensuring food safety a top priority “as brand owners are already ensuring strict compliance with regulatory standards.”
“As an ink manufacturer, it is critical to understand the industry’s need to address potential chemical migration risks in the packaging structure of consumer products. Migration compliance, however, is dependent on many factors in the manufacturing process, such as curing and substrate type in addition to ink application,” he added.
The Future of LED
LED curing has been gaining in popularity over the last few years, due in large part to its cost-effectiveness.
“The advantages of LED UV are pretty well documented these days,” said Graunke. “The potential for power savings is the obvious one, yet not necessarily from the actual running of the LED UV lights. It’s the instant on/off where the energy savings really show, as you do not need to keep the UV light in standby mode. Also, the need for air flow is essentially gone, and there is currently no ozone produced. The lack of additional exhausting means installation on retrofits is fast. Another advantage of LED UV is the minimizing of IR heat; there is much less distortion with temperature sensitive substrates. On offset presses, many setups are currently using only one LED UV light, further cutting energy use.”
Graunke added that the current generation of LED UV lights actually produces very high peak irradiance intensity. This should continue to grow, he said, and the movement to lower wavelength output offerings will allow for the blending of LED UV chips, which may drive the technology even more into the mainstream.
“For the near term future, LED UV could become the choice for printers looking to retrofit equipment to obtain the advantages of energy curable printing,” he said.
Peter Saunders, global business director, digital, Sun Chemical, said that there is certainly a lot to gain from the developments in UV LED.
“LED lamps are especially useful for heat sensitive materials like plastic or film,” he said. “Unlike mercury lamps which require chilled rollers to reduce effects of heat on substrate, LED doesn’t require those because its infrared–free output has the ability to deliver energy to cure and keep things cool at the same time. Additionally, UV LED has a longer lifespan than mercury lamps and there is dramatically less drop off in performance over time. In terms of market share, we know LED is growing. In faster wide format inkjet presses, mercury lamps still dominate, but we would expect LED to become a major part of digital label and packaging presses as technology develops.
He added, “We certainly do expect big things from UV LED curing at Sun Chemical in the inkjet field. The improvements in the power output of UV LED lamps has increased achievable line speed and has allowed us scope to develop inks more suitable for applications based on speed and single pass technology, as used in labels and narrow web. We know that dose of UV is a key element and it has been proven that LED lamps can deliver the required dose to create robust ink films. The LED lamp integrators have worked hard to maximize cure potential with novel system designs and a wide range of options, such as air or water cooling, to suit the needs of the printer OEM. We continue to develop our full range of UV LED inkjet solutions for wide format, label and other industrial applications such as tampo print replacement and décor.”
Toyo’s Adachi pointed out that generally, the drawbacks of UV ink systems are the ozone generated by UV irradiation, the need for ozone filtration exhausts, increased electricity costs due to multiple lamp use, and damage to the printed sheet itself from heat exposure.
“LED UV systems that rely on highly reactive UV inks, however, address these issues and are greatly contributing to the expansion of the UV ink market and its applications,” he said.
Doerffel, of hubergroup, said that the market share of LED is currently estimated to be 2% of the energy curing ink systems, which is even below the EB technology with its enormous investment efforts for drier-technology on press.
“The LED technology has slight advantages in energy consumption, but is coming with other challenges instead,” he said.
“The emitted wavelength-bands of LED are so narrow, that the available choice and necessary amount of photoinitiators are not offering a lot of room for creativity. “
In terms of the future of LED, Doerffel said that it could one day become a leading energy curing technology, though not in the near future. First, he said, there would have to be a change in regulatory preconditions, like a banning of mercury in lamps.
“But that scenario is neither in discussion, nor is it very likely to become reality. Lamps that are based on this technology would be really hard to replace in many areas of application – not only printing. Currently UV LED still includes some challenges that can’t only be solved from the inks’ side,” he said.