The market has asked for coatings that will
provide value-added attributes - innovative products that bring increased
productivity and lower maintenance, print solutions that are sustainable, and
technology that is safe for handling and safe for the environment. Flint Group
has responded with a new line of UV flexo coatings for UV LED curing under the
EkoCure brand name.
Flint Group’s EkoCure Coatings are developed
using specially selected raw materials that match the narrow and targeted
wavelength area that is typical for UV LED lamp output, and are the first
commercially available UV LED coatings available in the market.
The main advantages with UV LED can be
summarized as economical and ecological:
Economical
benefits include:
- Quality assuredness brings increased productivity and press uptime
- Energy costs will be significantly reduced
- Expanded capability to run heat sensitive materials with less heat management costs.
- Energy will be saved and UV LED lamps are ozone and mercury free. Printers can realized improved worker and environmental safety
- Printers looking for low maintenance lamps need to consider UV LED technology. UV LED lamps are nearly maintenance free with no mercury bulb replacement and disposal costs
- Gloss Coating
- Matte Coating
- Product Resistant Coating
- Low COF Shrink Coating
- Cast and Cure Coating
- Rotary Screen Tactile Coating
- Primer Coating for non-topcoated films
- Primer Coating for various shrink films
- Non-Yellowing Coating
- Coatings with or without optical brighteners
This is only the beginning! Flint Group can develop a coating to meet the
specific requirements of almost any narrow web printer using their EkoCure UV
LED technology.
In September 2013, Flint Group Narrow Web
won the Award for Innovation at The Label Industry Global Awards in Brussels
for its EkoCure UV LED ink technologies.
Flint Group was named joint winner alongside co-supplier and development
partner, Mark Andy.
The judges’ comments were, “UV LED, mercury
and ozone free ink technology, from Flint Group now offers a commercially
viable option with its new EkoCure inks providing improved cure response, cost
and productivity savings, waste reduction, energy savings and enhanced safety
that will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the future of the label
industry.”
Flint Group’s EkoCure UV flexo and screen
inks are the first-ever narrow web printing inks developed for use in
combination printing. These inks perform to the highest standards and bring
economical and ecological benefits to the market. First launched in the U.S. in
2012, these inks are now globally available through Flint Group’s extensive
distribution network.
EkoCure technology and the UV LED process is
a true game-changing innovation that will lead our industry into the future. EkoCure products are available in a complete
range of UV flexo inks, from all base colours in the Pantone base range, as
well as UV rotary screen whites designed for combination printing. The EkoCure
ink range also offers a complete portfolio of metallic inks, and varnishes with
more exciting developments on the horizon.
