With our UV and LED UV technologies, we offer curing solutions for a wide range of requirements in the digital printing industry. Whether on flexible or rigid materials, our UV and LED UV systems support precise curing, high print quality and adaptation to different production requirements.
UV curing technologies in industrial digital printing enable short curing times and the processing of a wide range of suitable substrates. LED UV systems also have a lower proportion of infrared radiation, which can reduce the thermal load on the substrate. The technology is suitable for coding and marking applications, such as printing best-before dates on packaging, as well as for short-run applications with frequently changing content, for example in mailing, signage or short-run printing.
Our UV systems make it possible to produce individual print jobs without lengthy preparation times and without the printing plates required for conventional printing processes.
Our UV technology enables inkjet printing on a wide range of flexible and rigid substrates, including plastics, glass, wood and metal. Depending on the printing system, ink, substrate and component geometry, three-dimensional materials with corners or curved surfaces can also be printed directly. This opens up a wide range of possibilities for industrial direct printing.
By integrating the printheads into the production line, the required content or graphics can be printed inline directly onto the final product. This can reduce additional process steps and simplify production workflows.
However, industrial inkjet printing is not limited to the graphic design of a product. Advances in printhead technology and precision machinery make it possible to print defined thin or finely structured functional layers, for example for applications in the semiconductor industry. Inkjet technology is also used in 3D printing to produce three-dimensional structures and components.
Inkjet systems are used on a wide range of materials and in different machine configurations. Applications range from large-format printing with moving UV systems and industrial printing on wood or PVC with large print widths to high-speed sheet-processing machines and label printing presses.
The curing systems required for these applications must meet different requirements, for example in terms of compact and lightweight design, service life and required UV output.
Our portfolio includes UV lamp and LED UV systems for a wide range of requirements in digital and inkjet printing. Thanks to the modular design of the systems, customized solutions for curing industrial products can also be implemented.
For example, LED UV pinning can be combined with UV lamp final curing, or several LED UV systems with different wavelengths can be used. Depending on the requirements, focused or non-focused LED UV systems can be selected, as well as different reflector geometries for UV lamp technology. IST METZ also offers suitable technologies for drying water-based inks, for example for direct printing on cardboard or corrugated board.
In UV finishing, hybrid solutions combining UV lamp and LED UV technology open up additional possibilities for creating special tactile effects on printed products. LED UV units can be used for so-called “pinning”, i.e. pre-curing the inks during the printing process, and combined with a UV system for final curing.
As the use of UV inks is not economically or technically suitable for every application, a combination of water-based inks and hot-air/infrared drying can be used, for example, for direct printing on corrugated board or cardboard.
The LED UV curing systems from our sister company IST INTECH are designed for a wide range of digital and inkjet printing applications. Manufactured in the UK, the systems are used for applications including digital label printing and large-format printing. They are available in various configurations and can be used individually or as part of a modular system.
The IST INTECH product range is specifically designed for digital printing applications and includes so-called pinning systems. These systems are used to pre-fix the applied ink droplets during the printing process before final curing takes place.
The portfolio includes a range of modular systems – from compact, air-cooled versions to LED systems with an IP54 rating for use in suitable production environments.
