When There's No Cure

Although mercury vapor lamps with wavelengths at 365 nm are most common, other lamps may be required if your ink chemistry cures at a different wavelength. "If a UV chemistry cures at a wavelength other than 365 nm, a specialty (doped) bulb will be needed that matches the wavelength the chemistry's photoinitiators react to," says Elinor Midlik, president of Prime UV Systems (Carol Stream, Ill.). "Doped bulbs are available that create additional peak wavelengths."