The characteristics and application of lithographic UV printing

Industrial Applications UV Hardening Technology Since the early 1960s, the German Wood Company has applied a hardened coating to the surface of wood. The world's first use of UV lithography was in the United States, and the United Kingdom was successfully used by the company in 1970 (Holland, 1997). Compared with the traditional lithography, it is only a very young technology, but development has become a very important printing technology.

In general, UV is not specifically used for lithography. It is a UV light source that irradiates chemicals. The scale of the chemicals contained in the chemical, Photoinitiator, is stimulated by a UV light source and is extremely short. Within a period of time (less than one second), the "Radiation Curing" of the "Polymer" contained in the chemical to produce a glue-hardening is commonly referred to as UV Curing. In the international arena again, the same as "Electronic Beam Curing Technology" (hereinafter referred to as "Electronic Beam Curing") is collectively called UV/EB Curing.

UV curing can be used in various traditional printing formats, including letterpress, flexo (Flexo), lithographic, screen printing, etc., as long as the use of UV ink, with the UV light source to complete the main part. The lithographic UV printing is a lithographic structure that uses UV inks and UV light sources. Of course, some very important matching conditions need to be achieved at the same time. In addition to printing, the use of transparent material for UV coating is also widely used in the market.

First, the characteristics of lithographic UV printing
In general, UV printing has the following advantages:

1. The color saturation is high and the color effect is good. Compared with traditional lithography, lithographic UV printing can achieve higher color effects. For print products with stricter color requirements, more satisfactory results can be obtained.

2. High print gloss, visually beautiful. When paired with an extinction background, a visually compelling contrast is obtained, which is extremely helpful in enhancing the high quality image of the product (Tolliver, 1998).

3. Applicable to various types of objects with completely different physical properties and chemical properties, including paper, paperboard, plastic, Sailuluo, PVC, PE, etc. Paper and film. This feature can print more product types than traditional lithography and has a broader market future.

4. Drying immediately at the same time as printing can greatly improve production efficiency (RadTech, 1998). Because there is no need to wait for the ink drying time, the production time can be greatly shortened, and the printing company can also save a lot of space for storing dry prints, which is helpful for cost savings.

5. Due to immediate drying during printing, it is not necessary to use dusting, which can be avoided by improving the quality problems caused by dusting.

6. Due to immediate drying during printing, color change may not occur within 48 hours of printing, unlike conventional lithography (Ehrlitzer, 1998).

7. The print has better light resistance.

8. The print has better abrasion resistance.

9. Be more environmentally friendly (RadTech, 1998).

In addition to the aforementioned advantages, does lithographic UV printing have no shortcomings? The answer is of course there are some drawbacks:

1. The cost of investment in lithographic UV printing is higher than that of traditional lithography equipment, and investment decisions need to be more careful.

2. The types of markets that can use offset UV printing are wider and more dispersed than the traditional lithography market. Therefore, if manufacturers want to invest in the development of this technology, they should first conduct market analysis and research so as to avoid the risk of placing orders after investing in equipment. .

3. The cost of ink for lithographic UV printing is about 3 to 4 times that of traditional lithographic printing inks, and the material cost is high. The production management technology, process technology, and cost control in print production need to be more rigorous, otherwise the proportion of cost loss will be higher than traditional lithography.

4. The ink storage area must be subject to stricter temperature control, which should be kept below 20°C, and the storage cost is higher (Hostmann Steinberg, 1992).

5. If the UV leaks out, it will have a health impact on people.

6. Lithographic UV printing is not as popular as traditional lithographic printing. Familiarity with the manpower supply of operating technology requires its own training.

(to be continued)