UV Ink – A Brief Outline

Printers are extensively used for printing documents in offices, schools, colleges and almost everywhere wherever printing is possible. Printers have almost replaced the use of pen. Now, the print outs are ready in less than a minute by just a single click of the button. The printers have made the work easier.  

In order to print, printers require inks. Inks often come in different forms and types. One of the most commonly used inks is the UV ink. These inks act similar to that of the liquid plastic. A chemical reaction takes place when the ink is exposed to the UV radiations and the ink components cross link into a solid with the help of photo initiators. As no material is removed hence, the whole of the volume is used to bring in the coloration. However, these inks are extremely thick. In fact, less viscosity in inks is also available. As a result of thick viscosity, the print quality can be much better as there is reduction in bleed as well as dot gain which ultimately results in images that are sharper.

These inks provide many desirable qualities such as chemical resistance, amazing color consistency, and fine gloss and are perfectly rub resistance.  However, UV ink provide opacity along with light fastness. The UV ink often come press ready. As a result of it, wastages are reduced tremendously and set up time is also reduced. Apart from this, these inks reduce the operator involvement. Furthermore, one of the greatest benefits of UV ink is that they do not alter the consistency as a result of evaporation or on exposure to pH. During the run, it maintains the consistency throughout. These inks do not get dry easily.

Besides this, UV ink have certain drawbacks. As these inks do not easily dry, hence, if there is small spill, it could result in a total mess that may become difficult to handle. Because of certain chemicals present in the UV ink, these may irritate your skin and damage your cloths also. Hence, all the care and precautions must be taken so that these inks do not come directly in contact with the skin. As a matter of fact, these inks are thick due to which do not flow easily, hence, there may be problems in printing hence, it would not be smooth enough. Another drawback of these inks is that these do not have compatibility with all the printers.

If we consider all the advantages and disadvantages, then it may be concluded that UV ink are far better than solvent and water inks.