When There's No Cure

Off-line testing is simple and repeatable, says Mark Tausch, R&D engineer for UVTechnology (Cincinnati, Ohio). "The best method of monitoring quality of cure is real-time burnish, through-cure, and tape peel testing," he explains. "A burnish test will ensure surface cure; solvent double rubs will ensure through-cure; tape peel tests are a measure of adhesion and can serve as a secondary test for through-cure." Although these tests are simple and check the finished product itself, they do require that the printing process be stopped to get the samples for testing.