Why you should give UV-LED a thought when it comes to coating?
There are several purposes of coating over a print. To provide a protective layer over the print, or to provide a separation layer between the packaging and the product. To help to keep the product fresh. To enhance the graphical image, helping the brand stand out from the crowd. If you are already using UV coating, or if you are a high coating usage user, then you consider the UV-LED coating methodology. There are several advantages to the UV-LED coating that sets it apart from UV coating. Let’s look more deeply into it through its technical properties and environmental impact.
From a technical perspective, the advantages include
- UV-LED coatings are easy to process.
- Provides good mechanical resistance.
- Allows for the production of a high contrast and clear image.
- Immediate switching on and off.
- Offers a shorter cure time.
From the environmental perspective
- Low power consumption.
- Low eat generation
- No ozone is produced
- No mercury content in the UV-LED lamp
- Longer life that on average last longer than 20,000 hours
The reason for the difference between the UV-LED and UV is due to the fact that it is designed differently. Even though both methodologies emit UV lights, the way that it produces UV energy is different. The UV lamp produces UV energy by generating an electric arc inside an ionized gas chamber to excite the atoms, which then decays, emitting photons. The photons emitted covers a board range of electromagnetic spectrum, and on average only about 20% of the energy produced is useful for UV curing. This means that many of the energy produced are wasted. UV-LED generates UV light energy in an entirely different way. In the UV-LED mechanism, a semiconductor device called the diode emits energy in a form of photons as the electric current or electronics moves through it. The specific materials in the diode determine the photon wavelengths, therefore the wavelength range emitted by the UV-LED is much narrower and specific, creating less energy wastage.
Ready for an upgrade? or thinking about an upgrade? Contact a KYMC sales representative to learn more about the UV-LED technology application on coating.
Relevant Reading
- Meet Ultraflex, the C.I UV LED Hybrid
- UV-LED Application on Metallic Ink
- Flexo UV-LED Curing in a Nutshell
Article by Daywey Chen, KYMC
