Screen Printing - June/July 2019 - 22

indoor/outdoor advertising.
The 2800 series of UV/UV LED
screen ink adheres to the vinyl
used to make fleet markings
and other durable decals.
The Nazdar NSC340 series
of durable UV LED Air Texture
#2: A GROWING NUMBER
Clear screen inks provides
OF UV LED INKS ARE
a higher level of outdoor
AVAILABLE
durability than Nazdar NCS40
In order to take advantage of
and NCS50 Indoor Air Texture
UV LED curing, you need inks
Clears. The NSC340 inks can
that are formulated to cure
be used to apply decorative
within the high UV-A wavefirst-surface texture effects
lengths produced by the LED
on durable polycarbonate and
lamp. UV LED screen inks
some treated polyester films.
include photoinitiators that
Ruco 937LED inks are
absorb the specified UV-A wavedual-cure inks that offer
lengths needed to ensure a full
excellent adhesion to glass,
cure at the desired speed.
ceramics, and metal, plus
As the benefits of UV LED
resistance to chemicals, water,
curing have started to be
and abrasion. They can be
proven in real-world applicaused for high-speed decoration
tions, screen-ink manufacturers
The Phoseon FireJet FJ200 curing unit is an air-cooled,
high-speed system designed for screen-printing applicaof bottles and glassware that
have followed this trend by
tions. Courtesy of Phoseon Technology.
will be chilled or run through
introducing formulations that
a dishwasher. Ruco 947LED
enable more screen printers to
inks are formulated for plastic
use the technology.
containers, including PET,
Today, companies such as
polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic, and more. These inks
Nazdar, Norcote, Sun Chemical, Ruco, and Marabu offer UV LED
are suitable for high-speed bottle decoration lines as well
inks for specific applications, including bottle decorating, conas semi-automatic machines. Ruco 955LED-LM is a lowtainer printing, durable decals, membrane switches, and indoor
migration, silicone-free formulation for the external printing
and outdoor point-of-purchase graphics. Some UV LED screen
of plastic tubes and hollow bodies used to package food
inks are "dual-cure" formulations that also work with traditional
or cosmetics. All Ruco LED-curable inks are certified by
mercury vapor curing systems.
independent third-party labs to meet health and safety
Each new ink formulation must provide the desired curing
requirements of CPSIA, California Proposition 65, and more.
performance at the speed of production, and must also meet the
Marabu Ultra Pack LEDC is an LED-curable screenadhesion and durability requirements of specific applications.
printing ink for container printing, packaging, and flatbed
According to Jeff Morris of Ruco USA, the performance of
label applications. The inks, designed to provide good
UV LED inks has been proven in the glass-bottle decorating
adhesion, opacity, and gloss, are suitable for a variety of
business for more than five years. Because retrofitting indussubstrates including pretreated HDPE/LDPE, polypropylene,
trial equipment can be expensive, buyers of glass-decorating
PET/PETG, rigid PVC, polycarbonate, and polystyrene.
or container-decorating equipment often specify UV-LED
Norcote LED First-Surface series inks are suitable
curing units when purchasing screen-printing equipment for
for almost all graphic/P-O-P and plastic-container printing
high-speed, high-volume container decorating.
applications. They cure rapidly, provide a scratch-resistant
Here are a few of the inks currently available:
surface when properly cured, and have good adhesion to a
The Nazdar 2300 series of UV/UV LED screen inks are
number of substrates.
formulated to print on the glass and plastic bottles used to
Norcote LED MSK series inks were created for secondpackage cosmetics, household chemicals, and other products.
surface printing in industrial graphic applications. The inks
The 2400 series is formulated for screen printing membrane
are compatible with polycarbonate and treated polyester and
switches. The 2600 series can be used to print graphics on
most pressure-sensitive adhesives.
the rigid substrates commonly used for P-O-P graphics and
For screen-printing applications,
Higgins recommends Phoseon's
FireJet FJ200, a 395-nm, 16-watt/
square centimeter air-cooled
curing unit.

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Screen Printing - June/July 2019

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