LED-UV: A Cool Idea for Digital Printing
Why Use LED Curing
The downside of conventional UV curing using mercury vapor lamps is the amount of heat and energy the process requires, as well as the time the mercury lamps require to reach curing temperature. Surprisingly, only a small percentage of the generated heat from mercury lamps is needed to cure the ink, so it’s not an energy-efficient process.
By contrast, LEDs are extremely energy-efficient. LED lamps reach a maximum of 40° C, whereas mercury lamps heat up to more than 60° C. Plus, an LED lamp reaches its curing temperature immediately — there is no wait time for it to heat up, so that means you can begin printing immediately. Also, the curing process is faster when using inks formulated to match the wavelength of LED diodes, due to less dwell time required after the printing process, and that translates to increased throughput.
Ken Hanulec serves as co-general manager of display graphics operations and VP of marketing for EFI's inkjet business unit.
