uveb West 2017
with UV LED lamps,” Morris concluded. “Photoinitiator choice
is key to achieving good film properties. UV PUD 1 has out-
standing chemical resistance and adhesion in a clear formula-
tion when cured with high intensity water-cooled UV LED
lamps. Film properties were equal to formulations cured with
gallium and mercury lamps even though the percent cure was
much lower. UV PUD 2 performed the best in pigmented for-
mulations when cured with both UV LED lamps and mercury
lamps. A hybrid system with both UV LED and mercury lamps
works the best for pigmented formulations.”
Neil Cramer of Colorado Photopolymer Solutions covered
“Effects of UV-LED Light Curing on Cure Rate and Oxygen
Inhibition.” EIT’s Jim Raymont analyzed “The Importance of
Total Optical Response in UV LED Measurement,” and Michael
Knoblauch, Keyland, Polymer UV Powder, LLC, closed the con-
ference with “UV LED Curing of UV-Cured Powder Coatings.”
“A 395nm UV LED will cure a clear, black, white and oth-
er non-conflicting UV absorbing pigmented UV-cured powder
coating,” said Knobauch. “Increasing power output of UV LED
expands application possibilities, and additional R&D is needed
to overcome UV absorption conflicts.
“UV LED cured powder coatings are suitable for use on vari-
ous substrates, simple and complex geometries,” Knobauch add-
ed. }UV LED curing of UV-cured powder coating is an enabling
technology, expanding the product and market opportunities
for powder coating.”
The conference broke into a two pairs of concurrent sessions
on Feb. 28. The morning featured sessions on Future of Food:
Packaging + Disinfection and 3D Printing: Market + Materials.
The 3D Printing: Market + Materials segment included five
talks. Mike Idacavage of Colorado Photopolymer Solutions
opened the session with “Development and Characterization of
ABS-like and PDMS-like materials for UV Curable 3D printing
Systems.” He was followed by Jake Hundley, HRL Laboratories,
LLC, who discussed “Process-Microstructure Relationships in
Additively Manufactured Photopolymer-Derived Ceramics.”
Formlabs’ Maximilian Zieringer analyzed “Material Science:
Advancing the Future of Digital Manufacturing and 3D Printing,”
followed by Lance Pickens of MadeSolid, Inc., who discussed
“Materials, Machines, and Sufficiently Reproducible Magic.”
Rong Bao, Tronly New Electronic Materials Cooperation, closed
the 3D Printing session with his talk, “An Easy Way to Adjust
the Properties of Epoxy in Cationic Photopolymerization, An
Easy to Speed Up 3D UV Cationic Curing Process.”
Karl Swanson, eBeam Technologies, followed with “EBeam -
Food Safety and Beyond,” covering the use of EB from farm to
fork. He discussed pasteurization and packaging, and how it is
saving money.
Sun Chemical’s David Biro gave a detailed analysis of “Current
and Future Challenges for UV/EB inks in Low Migration Food
Packaging,” and Connie Williams, Mars Chocolate, NA closed
the session with “Mars and the Food Safety Modernization Act.”
The afternoon session included the topics of Next
Generation UV Inkjet Technology and UV Materials for
Display: Touch and Beyond.
Next Generation UV Inkjet Technology began with a talk
on “Redesign of Energy Curable Waterborne Polyurethane
Dispersions for Inkjet Applications,” presented by JoAnn
Arceneaux of Allnex USA. Arceneaux noted that energy curable
polyurethane dispersions (PUDs) have been used for coatings,
and are now finding markets in inkjet inks.
Arceneaux was followed by Michael Kiehnel of BCH Brühl,
who analyzed “Enabling Low Migration for Inkjet Inks and
Coatings.” Kiehnel noted formulating low migration UV inks
and varnishes is often limited as a result of the need for relatively highly viscous raw materials.
“Modern food packaging is more than ‘container for food,’”
Kiehnel said. “There is a trend toward limited editions, and inkjet is ideal for short runs and customization. Inkjet inks are low
viscosity, but acrylic functionalized photoinitators are a potential solution.”.
Matt Hirsch of Lumii gave a fascinating talk on “Lumii Light
Field 3D Prints: A New Dimension for UV Printers.” Lumii processes 3D images and models, creating two layers of printable
patterns that reproduce hologram-like 3D images when stacked.
SGIA’s Ford Bowers closed the inkjet segment with
“Disruption and Opportunity: Lessons from the Wide
Format Community.”
Bowers, who started Miller Zell’s digital program in 2009,
noted that the company saved $360,000 in labor and over-
time pay within 18 months, while reducing waste and pro-
duction time. The company went from 100 jobs per month
to more than 1,000.
However, as more companies switched to digital, the return
on investment became more challenging.
“As more companies bought digital presses, prices started to
collapse,” Bowers added. “Burst capacity became more impor-
tant than utilization, as customers need their products by a cer-
tain day. This leads to a never-ending investment plan. Still, we
are very happy we moved into digital.”
UV Materials for Displays: Touch + Beyond led off with
Jennifer Colegrove, Touch Display Research Inc., who covered
“Automotive Touch Display Market Forecast and UV Curable
Colegrove said that the touch panel market has grown from
$2 billion in 2006 to $28 billion in 2016. Projective capacity is
the largest subset for touch displays. The automotive industry is
ideal for touch screens, which is a $7 billion market today.
