UV curing

UV curing is a process in which ultraviolet light and visible light is used to initiate a reaction that generates a crosslinked network of polymers. UV Curing is adaptable to printing, coating, decorating, stereolithography and assembling of a variety of products and materials owing to some of its key attributes, it is: a low temperature process, a high speed process, and a solventless process—cure is by polymerization rather than by evaporation. Originally introduced in the 1960s this technology has streamlined and increased automation in many industries in the manufacturing sector.

UV curing is used whenever there is a need for curing and drying of inks, adhesives and coatings. 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, ukuleles, etc.), pool cue manufacturing and other wood craft industries. Printing with UV curable inks provides the ability to print on a very wide variety of substrates such as plastics, paper, canvas, glass, metal, foam boards, tile, films, and many other materials.

Other industries that take advantage of UV curing include medicine, automobiles, cosmetics (for example artificial fingernails and gel nail polish, food, science, education and art. This curable ink has efficiently met the requirements of the publication sector on variety of paper and board.

The primary advantage of curing finishes and inks with ultraviolet lie in the speed at which the final product can be readied for shipping. 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 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.

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Wikipedia