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In addition, the prints printed with UV and EB inks are beautiful in appearance, superior in resistance and performance, and add glossiness and three-dimensionality to prints. Compared with ordinary inks, energy-curing inks can be instantly dried and fixed, enabling online operations such as printing, coating, and compounding.
釆 Printing with UV and EB inks can also reduce the cleaning time of the printer, because the UV and EB inks on ink fountains or printing presses do not appear to be hardened even if they are stored for one night, thus reducing ink waste.
Once the printing factory is determined to use energy-curable ink printing, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of EB ink and UV ink is on the agenda. In terms of cost, the price of EB ink is very close to UV ink. The EB ink formulation does not require expensive photoinitiators (photosensitizers), but the EB ink formulation incorporates additional expensive raw materials to give the print an exquisite printing effect and has good resistance in particular applications.
Mike McCormick, director of sales and marketing for energy-curable inks at Sun Chemical Ink, said: "The biggest difference in functionality between UV inks and EB inks is their use in food packaging printing. In food packaging printing, EB The printing effect of the ink is stable and uniform, and the repeatability is good, and there is no photoinitiator in the ink composition. Therefore, the print of EB ink has less odor, and the migration of components in the ink is less.
Although the initial cost of EB ink is slightly more expensive than that of UV ink, the performance of EB ink is better. Sometimes prints may need to laminate three layers of film onto its surface, allowing the print to dry on both sides instantaneously. With EB ink printing, printing speeds can be as high as 3,000 ft/min, and current EB curing equipment consumes less energy, making EB ink printing more efficient.
Jonathan, director of UV/EB technical services at INX International, believes that the advantages of EB inks are sufficient curing, especially when the thick ink film layer is completely cured, the odor is small, and there is no strong heat that causes the substrate to deform during curing. The disadvantage is that the capital investment is large and the operating cost is high. The space occupied by the EB curing device and the nitrogen gas container is limited.
The raw material cost for preparing EB inks is usually lower than UV inks.
Jonathan said: "Since EB inks do not require photoinitiators (photosensitizers), the cost of EB ink raw materials is lower than that of UV ink raw materials. However, when we measure the overall cost of EB inks, we must also consider another cost impact. Factors, because of the high purity of raw materials can be obtained low odor EB ink, so the price of highly purified raw materials is higher, while the purity of raw materials and finished inks in the laboratory analysis is also one of the cost factors to be considered.In addition, EB Curing equipment operation and maintenance also require a lot of R&D costs; testing of ink products also requires a certain cost."
In spite of this, EB inks and UV inks have their own characteristics, so the trade-off between them is also a problem.
Jonathan continued, "Comparing EB inks to UV inks is not an easy task because they all have their own advantages and disadvantages. They should really be treated as completely different processes."
Rodney Barr, technical director at Flint, says that the direct comparison between EB inks and UV inks is not easy. Basically, the current EB ink printing process is limited to rotary presses and may change in the future. The curing of the EB ink must be in an inert atmosphere, so nitrogen is needed for curing. The price of EB curing systems is on the decline. In fact, the cost of the EB curing system may be lower than the renovation cost of UV lamps installed between the units of the rotary printing press.
On the other hand, EB inks have some advantages over UV inks: they do not release ozone; they do not require cold curing of the heat source; the curing is not affected by the color of the ink; the curing depth is more thorough; there is no photoinitiator and therefore the odor is small.
Each printing company has different requirements for the bottom line of print performance and overall cost of printing. Compared with UV-curable ink printing, the quality of EB ink printing products is more stable, and the prediction of the curing degree of different printing jobs is more reliable. Compared with UV inks, EB inks are more uniform and stable, independent of ink color and ink film thickness. Since EB inks do not require photoinitiators, EB ink prints have little or no odor. UV curing lamps have complex structures and are therefore difficult to maintain.
Due to the high cost of EB curing equipment, many printing companies often make purchasing decisions until the end. If printing companies use EB inks to print plastic films, printers may worry that EB inks will degrade the plastic film and ultimately affect the integrity of the plastic film. In addition, like UV inks, EB curing equipment is not suitable to be installed between the units and crews of multicolor printers. If such a strategy is adopted, equipment costs are very expensive. Some printers install UV curing units between the units, and an EB curing unit at the end of the printer to cure the prints.
The advantages and disadvantages of EB ink and UV ink
As we all know, EB and UV inks have some advantages. The main advantage of energy-curable inks compared to general inks is that energy-curable inks are environmentally friendly. The curing degree of UV or EB inks and coatings is almost 100%, and their components are free of VOCs (organic volatiles) harmful to the human body and the environment.