UV Inks For Printing On Thermo-Formed Materials

New UV curable inks for printing on thermo-formable substrates designed for Durst digital presses have been introduced by Sunjet and they will be on show at the Drupa 2008 exhibition.

Sunjet, the inkjet ink division of Sun Chemical, has developed the Sunjet T-Form UV inks to introduce new business opportunities in such markets as traditional advertising and point of sales displays with moulded and formed displays for Durst printer users.

Durst and Sunjet also see opportunities in the customisation of sports and protective equipment, such as cycle helmets.

The new ink and printer system is claimed to allow full forming on styrene, acrylic and other plastic materials commonly used in displays and functional equipment.

Moulds with 90 degree edges and more than 10cm (four inches) depth showed good results on a variety of thermoplastics in customer trials, said Hiflex.

Durst said it has worked with companies involved in the manufacture of formed displays and protective equipment to ensure that print quality and post-formed articles achieve full acceptance.

The cooperation between the Durst and Sunjet has enabled delivery of the thermo forming technology in less than three months.

Nigel Caiger, director of digital technology for Sun Chemical, said: "We have succeeded in developing inks with extraordinary ability to thermoform and extend.

At typical print thicknesses, elongations of the order of 500 per cent have been achieved through careful formulation of novel monomer technology.

That said, having the right thermoforming properties is only part of the story - the ink has to cure at high speed to be of use in today's printing equipment.

Getting the cure speed to around 150mJ per square centimetre for a 12micron layer of ink was a challenge for a monomer matrix, which formed to this extent but we achieved it through new monomer and photo initiator formulation." Peter Saunders, Sunjet's sales and marketing manager, commented: "We are fortunate to have been able to work with Durst on this development.

Its understanding of customers' needs and its market research really enabled us to focus our development on hitting the key performance criteria.

Durst's vision has opened a new channel for our technology.".

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