Energy Curing Technology Has Come a Long Way
By David Savastano, Editor | 03.09.20
Raw material and equipment suppliers look back on the last decade and discuss where UV, UV LED and EB curing are heading.
The energy curable market continues to expand, with graphic arts as one of its key segments. In its report, “UV Cured Printing Inks Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2017-2026,” Transparency Market Research estimated sales of UV inks at approximately $1.6 billion in 2017.
Their analysts believe the UV ink segment will grow at a CAGR of more than 9% annually to 2026 to $3.5 billion, driven by fewer volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions in UV cured printing and continued expansion in the packaging industry.
One key to the formulation of UV inks is UV curable resins, such as oligomers, monomers and photoinitiators. Prescient & Strategic (P&S) Intelligence Private Limited reported in its 2018 study, “UV Curable Resins Market 2013–2023” that the global UV curable resins market was valued at nearly $3.5 billion in 2017, reaching $5.4 billion by 2023. Its analysts noted that the 7.7% CAGR was led by the increasing use of environmentally-friendly industrial coatings and demand for UV inks for packaging.
P&S noted that oligomers recorded the highest volume sales in the market, accounting for more than 45% share in 2017, with UV coatings the largest application area in the market, with more than 45% sales share in 2017.
Along those lines, Reportlinker’s study, “UV Curable Resin Market by Resin Type, 2019-2026,” placed the global UV curable resin market at $4,.7 billion in 2018, reaching nearly $9.8 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 9.4%.
In talking with companies throughout the UV and EB supply chain, they are seeing similar growth in the graphic arts market.
Patrick Sunderland, technical product manager, Lubrizol Performance Coatings, observed that there has been significant growth over that period, with CAGR numbers between 5% and 10%.
“Low migration inks especially have seen a significant increase, but probably the fastest growth has been seen in digital inks,” Sunderland said.
Andrew Seecharan, market segment manager - functional packaging for BASF, noted that energy cure systems provide advantages of excellent press stability, high gloss, high resistance and extremely low volatiles.
“Over the last decade or so, advancements in photoinitiator and oligomer technology have allowed higher line speeds in lithographic and flexographic print applications, resulting in growth at the expense of traditional oil-based and solvent-based inks,” Seecharan added. “Also, raw materials with a good balance of low viscosity and high reactivity have allowed energy cure to grow in digital applications. The result is that energy cure inks and OPV have become attractive options for all types of print applications.”
On the equipment side, Jim Raymont, EIT LLC’s director sales instrument markets, reported that the biggest growth has been in digital printing applications and newer industrial applications such as printed electronics.
UV LED has become a major factor during the past 10 years. Stacy Hoge, market development manager for Phoseon Technology, spoke of the changes she has seen over that time.
“UV LED technology for energy curing has grown significantly in the past decade or so,” Hoge noted. “Traditionally, mercury-based UV lamps have been utilized for energy curing, but now more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly LED-based UV technology has proven a superior solution for many applications.
“More and more users have adopted LED curing light sources for printing processes over traditional mercury lamps because they deliver advanced capabilities, improvements in operating economics and environmental advantages,” Hoge added. “Printers that utilize LED curing technology have reported significant return on investment in a short period. Users can expand the range of applications they can offer, run equipment at higher speeds, achieve new levels of print quality, use substantially less energy, reduce scrap, reduce VOC emissions in the work-place, and print on lower cost or more environmentally friendly materials.
“Since UV LED curing technology began in 2002, there have been significant technological advances in LED efficiency and curing performance,” Hoge continued. “The initial challenges have been met and overcome, allowing rapid technology adoption across a broad array of industries.”
Significant Changes in the Past Decade
UV and EB curing technology have come a long way during the past 10 years. Hoge observed that the greatest change in the energy curing market has been the increased amount of ink vendors and raw material providers that offer materials compatible with UV LED technology.
“Ink formulation for LED technology has evolved significantly in the past 10 years, and today, all the major ink suppliers offer inks that work well with LED technology,” Hoge said. “In addition, the availability of low migration inks for UV LED has increased significantly. Material suppliers have responded to the demand and challenge from the printing world to formulate raw materials that absorb energy corresponding to the wavelength of UV LED light sources.
“One of the key ingredients in the chemical formulation is a photoinitiator that serves as a catalyst to initiate the polymerization process when exposed to narrow-spectrum UV LED energy. With the continued widespread acceptance of UV LED systems, the availability of suitable base materials continues to grow. The driving factors in the advancement of the chemistry of raw materials are increased capability and cost-effectiveness of commercially available UV LED light sources,” Hoge noted.
“Ink and material vendors formulate for LED (and low migration), and more are developed each year,” Hoge continued. “New resins, monomers, oligomers and photoinitiators have been under development. Not only inks but also coatings and adhesives are now widely available that are either specially formulated for LED or work with both LED and traditional mercury sources.”
Sunderland said that the graphic arts industry, and especially the packaging printing market, has become much more aware of the general sustainability pressures, in numerous ways.
“Energy-cure inks are seen as having a more sustainable footprint, as the lack of need for solvent is seen as a good thing,” Sunderland added. “Also the newer curing systems, e.g. LED and E-beam, using significantly lower amounts of energy, have seen rapid adoption and growth.”
Seecharan said that suppliers of oligomers and monomers have invested in R&D to develop low odor and low migration products, which allows use in sensitive areas, such as
food packaging.
“Water-based EB is emerging and is poised to grow in flexible packaging, allowing reduced VOC by replacing some solvent-based systems used in flexo wide-web printing,” Seecharan added. “In addition, water-based EB systems eliminate the need for photoinitiators and reactive diluents (monomers) that can contribute to unacceptable migration levels. Raw material and lamp technology for UV LED continue to advance, providing advantages of reduced equipment footprint and lower operating costs compared to traditional UV systems.”
“Digital printing is one of the market sectors that has been able to adopt and use UV LEDs for curing,” Raymont pointed out. “Emphasis on not only peak irradiance (Watts/cm2) but also energy density (Joules/cm2) has become important.
“There are a number of printers that are now using UV for the first time,” Raymont added. “The need for education and understanding of how the UV process works and what needs to monitored and controlled is important.”
Customer Requirements For Raw Materials and Equipment
As the use of UV, UV LED and EB technology has become more widespread, meeting the needs of customers has become more critical. This is particularly the case in packaging, which has its own set of stringent mandates.
Seecharan said that customer requirements include low viscosity, high reactivity oligomers with low migration properties for use in food packaging; oligomers and monomers that will improve reactivity, especially surface cure of UV LED systems, and allow reduction of photoinitiator levels. There is also a need for raw materials, mainly oligomers, that will provide increased adhesion to film substrates that in some cases incorporate recycled plastics, creating difficult print surfaces.
“In general, customers, i.e. formulators, look for raw materials that will resolve a current technical challenge or allow them to enhance the performance of existing systems to gain market share,” Seecharan said. “Along with performance, customers expect competitive raw material pricing to maintain, or decrease, their own product pricing and remain competitive.”
“When our customers make inquiries about our Solsperse hyperdispersants, they historically have been looking for performance, in terms of low viscosity, storage stability and strong, bright color development in the ink,” Sunderland said. “They have also tended to want to use as few different dispersants as possible. However, in recent times the pressure has been more on cost-in-use; although the highest price increases for our customers has been in photoinitiators, with recent plant closures, fires and regulatory restrictions forcing prices upwards, they have been forced to look for cost savings on other raw materials in their formulations, including the dispersing agents.”
Hoge noted that ink customers look for reliable, stable UV LED curing products that work with well with their inks.
“Since 2002, Phoseon has been working with all the major ink suppliers and raw material providers to develop UV LED compatible inks and materials,” she observed. “Most ink manufacturers include a UV LED option today, making integration and use of LED even easier. As ink companies continue to develop formulations to optimize both UV LED curing and specific applications, printers can expand the applications they offer to their customers.”
EIT’s Raymont said that customers want to understand why they need to measure LEDs.
“Once convinced, they want something that is easy to use from a production standpoint and will allow them to communicate within their supply chain,” he added. “Customers who measure UV LEDs with radiometers designed for broadband mercury sources may not get consistent, repeatable results.”
Packaging Requirements
The packaging printing field offers the strongest growth in the printing business, and UV fits nicely within these requirements.
“It’s a perfect fit: high performance, fast throughput and low environmental impact work, especially in the high volume part of the industry, and offset the cost of investment,” Sunderland said. “In digital printing, ideally suited to personalization, serialization and low run numbers, lower initial investment costs make energy-cure printing an attractive option.”
“The key drivers for success in packaging are maximizing cure speed (productivity), ensuring product compliance (brand owner and legislation) and reducing potential risk from residual migration from ink/OPV to packaged content, especially food,” Seecharan said. “As new technologies, such as water-based EB and UV LED systems, are optimized for performance and throughput, market penetration is expected to continue with energy cure at the expense of traditional UV and solvent-based systems.”
Hoge said that when it comes to packaging requirements, UV LED curing technology is ideal for a variety of applications.
“UV LED curing shows measurable advantages in higher productivity, lower energy usage while utilizing thinner substrates with improved adhesion along with clear environmental benefits,” she said. “Customers that own UV LED curing printers have discovered they can print on a wide range of materials while printer manufacturers are finding they can reduce the footprint of their equipment with smaller UV LED systems. They can also eliminate large air exhaust ducts since LED systems don’t create ozone and pose fewer heat dissipation challenges than traditional mercury-based curing.
“UV LED technology has been shown to be vastly superior to mercury systems in the packaging market for curing black, white, fluorescents, and metallic inks, as well as laminating, cast & cure, and cold foil adhesives,” Hoge added. “The critical element that each of these has in common is the requirement that UV energy travels through dense pigments, additives or films without being redirected or prematurely absorbed before full cure is achieved. Due to the physics of light and nature of UV LED output, the depth of penetration is exactly where LED technology excels.”
Hoge also discussed UV LED for low migration packaging.
“Since 2004, EU Framework Regulation EC 1935/2004 requires low migration for all food packaging,” Hoge reported. “While there are a variety of processes that can reduce migration levels, UV LED curing technology offers superior process stability and consistency, both top requirements for low migration printing. The UV output of LED curing equipment is much more stable over time compared with conventional mercury-based systems. This results in greater process control when used to crosslink inks, coatings and adhesives in low-migration processes. UV LED systems last longer and can reduce energy consumption by up to 70% compared with traditional arc lamps.”
Outlook for Energy Curing In the Graphic Arts
Raw material and equipment suppliers alike see a strong future ahead for energy curing in the graphic arts.
“We expect it to continue to grow well, as sustainability pressures increase, but raw material suppliers will have to continue to adapt to offer ink makers and downstream users acceptable formulation costs,” Sunderland said.
“I expect to see steady growth over the next few years,” Raymont noted.
“Based on end-use performance benefits and continued R&D, such as in water-based EB, UV LED, low migration, etc., energy cure systems are well-positioned to grow in graphic arts, probably at or slightly above GDP,” Seecharan predicted. “Assuming continued emphasis on the environment and/or regulations to reduce VOC emissions, energy cure systems will continue to grow due to very low VOC and potential for waste reduction.”
Hoge predicts a bright future for UV LED curing.
“Energy curing growth in graphic arts will continue as printers continue to replace solvent-based inks and coatings and other older technologies that are less efficient and environmentally friendly,” Hoge concluded. “Today, most digital inkjet OEMs have already adopted LED technology to replace traditional mercury-based lamps for energy curing. Moving into the future, the adoption of LED curing technology in graphic arts will continue to grow for screenprinting, flexography, and some areas of offset (web-fed offset or direct-to-container offset) printing because of all the benefits and more stringent mercury regulations.”
Their analysts believe the UV ink segment will grow at a CAGR of more than 9% annually to 2026 to $3.5 billion, driven by fewer volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions in UV cured printing and continued expansion in the packaging industry.
One key to the formulation of UV inks is UV curable resins, such as oligomers, monomers and photoinitiators. Prescient & Strategic (P&S) Intelligence Private Limited reported in its 2018 study, “UV Curable Resins Market 2013–2023” that the global UV curable resins market was valued at nearly $3.5 billion in 2017, reaching $5.4 billion by 2023. Its analysts noted that the 7.7% CAGR was led by the increasing use of environmentally-friendly industrial coatings and demand for UV inks for packaging.
P&S noted that oligomers recorded the highest volume sales in the market, accounting for more than 45% share in 2017, with UV coatings the largest application area in the market, with more than 45% sales share in 2017.
Along those lines, Reportlinker’s study, “UV Curable Resin Market by Resin Type, 2019-2026,” placed the global UV curable resin market at $4,.7 billion in 2018, reaching nearly $9.8 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 9.4%.
In talking with companies throughout the UV and EB supply chain, they are seeing similar growth in the graphic arts market.
Patrick Sunderland, technical product manager, Lubrizol Performance Coatings, observed that there has been significant growth over that period, with CAGR numbers between 5% and 10%.
“Low migration inks especially have seen a significant increase, but probably the fastest growth has been seen in digital inks,” Sunderland said.
Andrew Seecharan, market segment manager - functional packaging for BASF, noted that energy cure systems provide advantages of excellent press stability, high gloss, high resistance and extremely low volatiles.
“Over the last decade or so, advancements in photoinitiator and oligomer technology have allowed higher line speeds in lithographic and flexographic print applications, resulting in growth at the expense of traditional oil-based and solvent-based inks,” Seecharan added. “Also, raw materials with a good balance of low viscosity and high reactivity have allowed energy cure to grow in digital applications. The result is that energy cure inks and OPV have become attractive options for all types of print applications.”
On the equipment side, Jim Raymont, EIT LLC’s director sales instrument markets, reported that the biggest growth has been in digital printing applications and newer industrial applications such as printed electronics.
UV LED has become a major factor during the past 10 years. Stacy Hoge, market development manager for Phoseon Technology, spoke of the changes she has seen over that time.
“UV LED technology for energy curing has grown significantly in the past decade or so,” Hoge noted. “Traditionally, mercury-based UV lamps have been utilized for energy curing, but now more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly LED-based UV technology has proven a superior solution for many applications.
“More and more users have adopted LED curing light sources for printing processes over traditional mercury lamps because they deliver advanced capabilities, improvements in operating economics and environmental advantages,” Hoge added. “Printers that utilize LED curing technology have reported significant return on investment in a short period. Users can expand the range of applications they can offer, run equipment at higher speeds, achieve new levels of print quality, use substantially less energy, reduce scrap, reduce VOC emissions in the work-place, and print on lower cost or more environmentally friendly materials.
“Since UV LED curing technology began in 2002, there have been significant technological advances in LED efficiency and curing performance,” Hoge continued. “The initial challenges have been met and overcome, allowing rapid technology adoption across a broad array of industries.”
Significant Changes in the Past Decade
UV and EB curing technology have come a long way during the past 10 years. Hoge observed that the greatest change in the energy curing market has been the increased amount of ink vendors and raw material providers that offer materials compatible with UV LED technology.
“Ink formulation for LED technology has evolved significantly in the past 10 years, and today, all the major ink suppliers offer inks that work well with LED technology,” Hoge said. “In addition, the availability of low migration inks for UV LED has increased significantly. Material suppliers have responded to the demand and challenge from the printing world to formulate raw materials that absorb energy corresponding to the wavelength of UV LED light sources.
“One of the key ingredients in the chemical formulation is a photoinitiator that serves as a catalyst to initiate the polymerization process when exposed to narrow-spectrum UV LED energy. With the continued widespread acceptance of UV LED systems, the availability of suitable base materials continues to grow. The driving factors in the advancement of the chemistry of raw materials are increased capability and cost-effectiveness of commercially available UV LED light sources,” Hoge noted.
“Ink and material vendors formulate for LED (and low migration), and more are developed each year,” Hoge continued. “New resins, monomers, oligomers and photoinitiators have been under development. Not only inks but also coatings and adhesives are now widely available that are either specially formulated for LED or work with both LED and traditional mercury sources.”
Sunderland said that the graphic arts industry, and especially the packaging printing market, has become much more aware of the general sustainability pressures, in numerous ways.
“Energy-cure inks are seen as having a more sustainable footprint, as the lack of need for solvent is seen as a good thing,” Sunderland added. “Also the newer curing systems, e.g. LED and E-beam, using significantly lower amounts of energy, have seen rapid adoption and growth.”
Seecharan said that suppliers of oligomers and monomers have invested in R&D to develop low odor and low migration products, which allows use in sensitive areas, such as
food packaging.
“Water-based EB is emerging and is poised to grow in flexible packaging, allowing reduced VOC by replacing some solvent-based systems used in flexo wide-web printing,” Seecharan added. “In addition, water-based EB systems eliminate the need for photoinitiators and reactive diluents (monomers) that can contribute to unacceptable migration levels. Raw material and lamp technology for UV LED continue to advance, providing advantages of reduced equipment footprint and lower operating costs compared to traditional UV systems.”
“Digital printing is one of the market sectors that has been able to adopt and use UV LEDs for curing,” Raymont pointed out. “Emphasis on not only peak irradiance (Watts/cm2) but also energy density (Joules/cm2) has become important.
“There are a number of printers that are now using UV for the first time,” Raymont added. “The need for education and understanding of how the UV process works and what needs to monitored and controlled is important.”
Customer Requirements For Raw Materials and Equipment
As the use of UV, UV LED and EB technology has become more widespread, meeting the needs of customers has become more critical. This is particularly the case in packaging, which has its own set of stringent mandates.
Seecharan said that customer requirements include low viscosity, high reactivity oligomers with low migration properties for use in food packaging; oligomers and monomers that will improve reactivity, especially surface cure of UV LED systems, and allow reduction of photoinitiator levels. There is also a need for raw materials, mainly oligomers, that will provide increased adhesion to film substrates that in some cases incorporate recycled plastics, creating difficult print surfaces.
“In general, customers, i.e. formulators, look for raw materials that will resolve a current technical challenge or allow them to enhance the performance of existing systems to gain market share,” Seecharan said. “Along with performance, customers expect competitive raw material pricing to maintain, or decrease, their own product pricing and remain competitive.”
“When our customers make inquiries about our Solsperse hyperdispersants, they historically have been looking for performance, in terms of low viscosity, storage stability and strong, bright color development in the ink,” Sunderland said. “They have also tended to want to use as few different dispersants as possible. However, in recent times the pressure has been more on cost-in-use; although the highest price increases for our customers has been in photoinitiators, with recent plant closures, fires and regulatory restrictions forcing prices upwards, they have been forced to look for cost savings on other raw materials in their formulations, including the dispersing agents.”
Hoge noted that ink customers look for reliable, stable UV LED curing products that work with well with their inks.
“Since 2002, Phoseon has been working with all the major ink suppliers and raw material providers to develop UV LED compatible inks and materials,” she observed. “Most ink manufacturers include a UV LED option today, making integration and use of LED even easier. As ink companies continue to develop formulations to optimize both UV LED curing and specific applications, printers can expand the applications they offer to their customers.”
EIT’s Raymont said that customers want to understand why they need to measure LEDs.
“Once convinced, they want something that is easy to use from a production standpoint and will allow them to communicate within their supply chain,” he added. “Customers who measure UV LEDs with radiometers designed for broadband mercury sources may not get consistent, repeatable results.”
Packaging Requirements
The packaging printing field offers the strongest growth in the printing business, and UV fits nicely within these requirements.
“It’s a perfect fit: high performance, fast throughput and low environmental impact work, especially in the high volume part of the industry, and offset the cost of investment,” Sunderland said. “In digital printing, ideally suited to personalization, serialization and low run numbers, lower initial investment costs make energy-cure printing an attractive option.”
“The key drivers for success in packaging are maximizing cure speed (productivity), ensuring product compliance (brand owner and legislation) and reducing potential risk from residual migration from ink/OPV to packaged content, especially food,” Seecharan said. “As new technologies, such as water-based EB and UV LED systems, are optimized for performance and throughput, market penetration is expected to continue with energy cure at the expense of traditional UV and solvent-based systems.”
Hoge said that when it comes to packaging requirements, UV LED curing technology is ideal for a variety of applications.
“UV LED curing shows measurable advantages in higher productivity, lower energy usage while utilizing thinner substrates with improved adhesion along with clear environmental benefits,” she said. “Customers that own UV LED curing printers have discovered they can print on a wide range of materials while printer manufacturers are finding they can reduce the footprint of their equipment with smaller UV LED systems. They can also eliminate large air exhaust ducts since LED systems don’t create ozone and pose fewer heat dissipation challenges than traditional mercury-based curing.
“UV LED technology has been shown to be vastly superior to mercury systems in the packaging market for curing black, white, fluorescents, and metallic inks, as well as laminating, cast & cure, and cold foil adhesives,” Hoge added. “The critical element that each of these has in common is the requirement that UV energy travels through dense pigments, additives or films without being redirected or prematurely absorbed before full cure is achieved. Due to the physics of light and nature of UV LED output, the depth of penetration is exactly where LED technology excels.”
Hoge also discussed UV LED for low migration packaging.
“Since 2004, EU Framework Regulation EC 1935/2004 requires low migration for all food packaging,” Hoge reported. “While there are a variety of processes that can reduce migration levels, UV LED curing technology offers superior process stability and consistency, both top requirements for low migration printing. The UV output of LED curing equipment is much more stable over time compared with conventional mercury-based systems. This results in greater process control when used to crosslink inks, coatings and adhesives in low-migration processes. UV LED systems last longer and can reduce energy consumption by up to 70% compared with traditional arc lamps.”
Outlook for Energy Curing In the Graphic Arts
Raw material and equipment suppliers alike see a strong future ahead for energy curing in the graphic arts.
“We expect it to continue to grow well, as sustainability pressures increase, but raw material suppliers will have to continue to adapt to offer ink makers and downstream users acceptable formulation costs,” Sunderland said.
“I expect to see steady growth over the next few years,” Raymont noted.
“Based on end-use performance benefits and continued R&D, such as in water-based EB, UV LED, low migration, etc., energy cure systems are well-positioned to grow in graphic arts, probably at or slightly above GDP,” Seecharan predicted. “Assuming continued emphasis on the environment and/or regulations to reduce VOC emissions, energy cure systems will continue to grow due to very low VOC and potential for waste reduction.”
Hoge predicts a bright future for UV LED curing.
“Energy curing growth in graphic arts will continue as printers continue to replace solvent-based inks and coatings and other older technologies that are less efficient and environmentally friendly,” Hoge concluded. “Today, most digital inkjet OEMs have already adopted LED technology to replace traditional mercury-based lamps for energy curing. Moving into the future, the adoption of LED curing technology in graphic arts will continue to grow for screenprinting, flexography, and some areas of offset (web-fed offset or direct-to-container offset) printing because of all the benefits and more stringent mercury regulations.”
