UV LED Inks: The Future of Narrow-web Printing?

A free radical curing UV ink consists, typically, of a range of raw materials, where each ingredient gives certain properties to the finished ink (see Fig. 1).

Any UV curing ink will only cure when it is exposed to UV light. In this case, the oligomers and monomers react with the photoinitiators and a crosslink reaction begins. If there is not enough light, only surface cure will be achieved, which can result in poor adhesion.