UV technology will become the first choice for more and more label printing companies

The demand for UV printing is rising all over the world, especially in Europe, the United States and Latin America. According to European equipment manufacturers, the annual growth rate of UV models will reach 7%, the annual growth rate of UV drying equipment will be 10%, and the fastest growth rate of UV inks and varnishes will reach 14%. According to the statistics of ink manufacturers, the annual consumption of UV ink and varnish in the local market has increased by about 15%, which is almost 10 times the annual growth rate of ink consumables in the traditional offset printing market.

The application field of UV technology is also expanding, such as label, plastic, multi-function sheet paper and tape printing, etc. Especially in the field of label printing, UV printing is an unprecedented growth trend, high-speed flexo printing labels, shrink sleeves Packaging, thermoforming package special effect label printing, etc. are all using UV technology. This article will focus on the huge promotion effect of UV technology on label printing from four aspects: high-speed curing technology, low thermal effect, wide substrate and high solid content.

1. High speed curing
It has been less than 20 years since the flexographic printing process was introduced into China, and the time for domestic printing companies to use flexo to print labels is relatively short. Even today in the 21st century, most of the domestic label printing still uses relief printing, and the adoption of flexo printing is still in the preliminary stage. However, for developed countries such as Europe and the United States, their label printing market is very mature. More than 90% of the labels are printed in China using flexographic printing. Although the flexographic process is still young in label printing, this label is flexible. The Indian way has a strong stamina. According to industry statistics, the current Chinese label market is rapidly increasing at a rate of about 30% every year. While the label market is expanding, it also contributed to the rise of the label printing industry.

The reason why flexo printing has become the mainstream process for label printing is mainly in two aspects: first, flexographic printing is a more environmentally friendly printing method, the ink is non-toxic and odorless, and meets international environmental protection requirements. At present, many large multinational companies are increasingly strict with product packaging, and basically have used flexo printing to print product packaging. Domestically, pharmaceutical and food companies have become the main source of customers for label flexo printing in China; second, flexo printing has more advantages than other printing methods in label printing, such as high color saturation and very suitable Standardization, outstanding spot color performance, and more convenient for combination printing.

However, the printing speed of a flexographic printing machine can usually be maintained above 100m / min, which is 2-3 times the most commonly used letterpress printing machine in China's label printing. Under such a high-speed printing environment, the UV curing efficiency becomes The key to the success of printing. The ordinary infrared drying process is far from meeting the requirements. The huge baking equipment and the long drying tunnel are simply a nightmare for printing companies. Using UV drying and curing process, the ink can be cured in a few seconds after printing, which significantly improves the production efficiency, and can omit the baking and drying process. The drying equipment is simple and saves space. It is completely suitable for the production of high-speed flexo labels.

2. Low thermal effect
Heat shrinkable film label is a film label printed on plastic film or plastic tube with special ink. During the labeling process, when heated (about 70 ℃), the shrink label will quickly follow the outer contour of the container Shrinkable, close to the container surface, heat shrinkable film labels mainly include shrink sleeve labels and shrink wrap labels. Shrink sleeve labels are made of heat-shrinkable film as the base material, and are made into cylindrical labels after printing. It has the characteristics of convenient use and is very suitable for special-shaped containers.

Heat shrinkable film labels are a part of the label market. They are currently undergoing rapid growth. The market share is constantly expanding. The expected annual growth rate is about 15%, which greatly exceeds the annual growth rate of about 5% in the ordinary label market. The development potential is huge. Become a bright spot in the label printing industry. It is predicted that the domestic heat shrinkable film market will grow at a rate of more than 20% in the next 5 years.

The production of heat-shrinkable film labels has high technical requirements, especially when printing heat-shrinkable films, how to control the drying temperature is very important. For ordinary water-based and solvent-based inks, the drying temperature is too high , The material shrinks thermally; if the temperature is too low, the ink does not dry thoroughly, resulting in problems such as adhesion and dirt on the back. Therefore, the process is quite complicated and the scrap rate is high. For the UV curing and drying technology, under the action of ultraviolet energy, the ink instantly forms a polymer material to form a network crosslink, the ink cures quickly, and has no effect on the temperature of the printed material. The unique cold curing system is very suitable for the labeling of heat sensitive materials. produce.

Recently, Mimaki released the desktop UV LED inkjet printer—UJF—3042, which uses UV LEDs to completely dry the printing ink. Pure ultraviolet drying hardly generates any heat, and is even suitable for thermal media such as acrylic plastics. print.

3 Wide substrate
In recent years, the total amount of global cultural paper printing has been declining, but label packaging and printing are still growing. Label supplies in life are everywhere. With the widespread use of labels, printing materials are also increasingly used, such as polyethylene (PE). Films, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) films, polypropylene (PP) films, metal foils, and non-absorbent special materials. The surface of these materials is dense and does not absorb ink. If printing with ordinary solvent-based inks, a certain drying time is required. Usually, powder spraying, drying rack devices or other additives are added to the ink, and the UV ink is completely There is no such trouble. For example, Agfa ’s Abona UV inkjet printer claims that in addition to air and water, as long as the material to be printed can be placed in the UV inkjet printer, it can be directly printed on. Applicable printed matter such as: paper, film, PE, PET, PP, OPP, BOPP, PVC, acrylic glass, wood board, ceramic tile, etc.

4 High solid content
The solid content of general solvent-based ink is about 40%, and the solid content of UV ink after curing is close to 100% times that of ordinary ink. The printing ink layer is thick and colorful, which is very suitable for label printing. Thickness can also achieve grating effect and relief effect.

The latest domestic launch of UV stereo grating ink UV-1278N is to use the characteristics of high solid content of ink to print stereo grating film. The ink is colorless and transparent, fast curing by ultraviolet light, the cured film does not yellow, and the adhesion fast , Good toughness. Different from the traditional hot press forming process for preparing stereo gratings, the new process uses screen printing method to print the ink on the packaging machine 'target = _blank> transparent diaphragm to form the columnar grating pattern directly; the stereo grating ink can also be printed directly On the printed matter, a three-dimensional pattern is formed, and the pattern can be selectively printed to make the local three-dimensional. The three-dimensional effect of the printed pattern is obvious. Using this ink to print grating film can greatly reduce production cost and improve production efficiency. The printing substrate can be transparent plastic film, such as PVC, PC, PET, or paper, metal, glass, ceramic, etc.

Roland ’s Versa UV LED is the world ’s first UV inkjet printer that uses safe, low-calorie LED lights. It not only prints five colors of yellow magenta, black and white, and varnish, but also has outstanding print quality. This machine is mainly suitable for one-time packaging printing and short-version label printing, and can perfectly display "very rich special effects", whether it is highlight effects or texture effects, and can even reproduce the artificial leather and crocodile skin. Texture difference.

In addition, UV technology is also favored in the printing of self-adhesive labels. At present, the label industry has generally adopted the UV glazing process to replace the surface coating. The glazing of the self-adhesive labels is carried out on the wheel conversion label machine. That is, apply a layer of UV varnish evenly on the surface of the graphics and text immediately after printing. For flexographic prints using water-based inks, the glazing process is an indispensable process compared with traditional drying equipment. On equipment without UV drying, using ordinary inks requires hot stamping before printing. The disadvantage is that printing Pattern design is restricted. On the equipment with UV drying device, you can print and then bronzing. After the ink is dried quickly, you can bronzing on the ink. The bronzing pattern can be arbitrarily designed, not limited by the ink. It is suitable for printing high-end labels.

5 Summary
In short, UV technology does not require a heat source, is pure ultraviolet cold curing, suitable for the production of heat-sensitive labels; and can be cured quickly (cure time can be less than 1 second), high productivity and high process output can reduce the storage of raw materials and finished products ; UV technology The entire curing system is a solvent-free system, 100% solvent-free formula, suitable for special effect label production, and no VOC volatile organic substances, fully adapt to the requirements of environmental pollution regulations. It is believed that in the near future, technology will become the first choice of more and more label manufacturers.

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