The curing of varnishes and inks with UV light is a fast, proven and energy-efficient method for cross-linking reactive ink and varnish systems. UV curing is used in many different areas, such as in wood processing, surface coating or the printing industry. The new FREEcure UV system, developed by IST METZ together with BASF SE, represents a new kind of cross-linking technology. The shared patent resulting from the collaboration follows the approach of increasing the UVC percentage in the spectrum of a UV lamp. FREEcure is a revolutionary technology that achieves outstanding results without:
- Photo initiators
- Inertisation
- Electron beams
Reactivity without initiators
FREEcure is not only suitable for 100% UV systems, but also for water borne UV systems. When formulating the UV systems, the following aspects were taken into account:
- No photo initiators
- Chemical composition of the binding agent
- Functionality of the binding agent
- Amine modification for effective suppression of oxygen inhibition
- Physical surface drying of aqueous UV dispersions
