Toyo Ink has announced the development of two new series of low-energy, UV-curable offset inks under its FLASH DRY brand: the FLASH DRY LPCEX for ozone-free curing systems and the FLASH DRY LED EX for LED-UV curing systems. They will initially be launched to the Japanese market at the TOKYO PACK international packaging show this October with a phased rollout to other regions planned for a later time.
At present, UV ink technology has been lauded by industry professionals for its environmental benefits such as energy efficiency, elimination of volatile organic compounds and reduction in CO2 emissions, coupled with its production advantage of instant curing. This has prompted many commercial printers to switch over from oil-based inks, which are dried by the conventional oxidative polymerisation method, to UV systems.
Since the introduction of the FLASH DRY brand in 1971 and FLASH DRY LED-UV inks in 2008, Toyo Ink has been driving improvements in ink performance, printing properties and surface print quality, and continues to do so with the rollout of low-energy UV products to address new market demand.
With the latest announcement, Toyo Ink brings to market the FLASH DRY LED EX series formulated for UV-LED printing presses and the FLASH DRY LPC EX series for presses equipped with UV ozone-less lamps. Both product series realise an expanded colour gamut, high transparency and high gloss compared with conventional UV inks, making possible a level of colour reproduction comparable to oil-based inks. These advances were achieved by Toyo Ink’s adoption of a specialty pigment and fundamental change in pigment dispersion method.
In addition, new breakthroughs in polymer-structure control technology by Toyo Ink led to the development of an ink formulation that improved emulsification while exhibiting excellent viscoelastic properties, printability and surface print quality. As a result of all these developments, UV inks are now as easy-to-handle on the shop floor as oil-based inks.
“Developed under rigid field testing requirements, the two latest additions to the FLASH DRY family demonstrate our commitment and ability to deliver innovative solutions that support the needs of our customers,” said Katsumi Yamazaki, president of Toyo Ink. “As early pioneers in the development of UV and LED-UV curable technology, the UV ink market has emerged as a strong growth area for the Toyo Ink Group. Looking to become the leading global brand in the low-energy UV field, we aim to increase production volume for these new ink products by 2.5 times in 2020.”