UV CURING SYSTEMS

UV curing is a process in which high intensity ultraviolet light is used to create a photochemical reaction for the instant curing and drying of inks, adhesives and coatings. UV curing is adaptable to printing, coating, decorating, stereolithography and assembling of a variety of products and materials. Curing with ultraviolet is a low temperature process, a high speed process, and a solventless process - cure is by polymerization rather than by evaporation.

The main advantage of UV curing lie in the speed at which the final product can be manufactured. In addition to speeding up production, this also can reduce flaws and errors, as the amount of time that dust, flies or any airborne object has to settle upon the object is reduced. This can increase the quality of the finished item, and allow for greater consistency.

The other obvious benefit of ultraviolet curing is that manufacturers can devote less space to finishing items, since they don't have to wait for them to dry. This creates an efficiency that ripples through the entire manufacturing process.

On the other hand, UV-cured adhesive has become a high-speed replacement for two-part adhesives, eliminating the need for solvent removal, ratio mixing and potential life concern. It is used in the screen printing process where the UV curing systems are used to cure screen-printed products, which range from T-shirts to 3D and cylindrical parts. It is used in fine instrument finishing (guitars, violins, etc.), pool cue manufacturing and other wood craft industries.

Other industries that take advantage of UV radiation curing include medicine, automobiles, cosmetics (e.g. artificial fingernails and gel nail polish), food, science, education and art.