UV Printing

UV printing is different from conventional printing in many ways.

UV inks dry through a photomechanical process. When the inks are exposed to ultraviolet lights they turn from a liquid, or paste, to a solid.
This in return allows lesser absorption of the ink into the material that we are printing on.


This is advantageous for many reasons. One of the biggest advantages of UV printing is that the inks can dry on plastic and other non-porous substrates. Because the inks dry through a photomechanical process it is not necessary for the ink solvent to absorb into the stock. Basically, if you can get the stock through the press you can print on it.

In addition to the advantage of printing on unusual substrates like plastic, UV printing also offers significant advantages when printing on uncoated stocks as well. The solvents in conventional inks absorb very quickly into uncoated stocks. Because of this, less of the solvents evaporate into the air and the printed piece tends to have excessive dot gain and will look muddy or too full. Since UV inks dry when exposed to UV light, the inks do not have the time to soak into the paper. The ink dot is left sitting on top of the uncoated sheet, where it presents a cleaner less contaminated dot, ultimately giving more vibrant color.

All-in-all, UV printing is an excellent way to produce printed material on unusual substrates and on uncoated stocks.

Contact us for more information.