A new trade body has been formed with the aim of promoting the use of UV LED curing technology in industries including the graphic arts. Rival companies Integration Technology, Lumen Dynamics and Phoseon Technology have combined forces to form the UV LED Curing Association. The new association will be a source of information and standards around UV LED technology and will work with researchers, suppliers, integrators and end users to promote the adoption of UV curing.

Adrian Lockwood, managing director of Oxfordshire-based Integration Technology, told PrintWeek that the graphics market was a considerable user of radiation curing. He added that the new association would prioritise working with ink manufacturers and their suppliers to develop offset ink formulations specifically designed for UV LED curing.

"There is a lot of misinformation around LED curing, to do with things like power and speed, but LED can go every bit as fast as Arc lamps; the science is there, it's the [ink] formulations that aren't yet," he explained.

"We've been planning this for around 18 months and we want to work much more closely with the ink industry, some of whom don't understand fully the properties of LED curing.

"At Label Expo more than half of the digital label webs were using LED curing and the balance were looking at it, so the newer technology is clearly adopting it; but, if you came to us with a Heidelberg press and said 'I want to convert it to UV LED', we would say no, because it's not ready yet."

Lockwood said that LED was a cold curing process, with an energy consumption of around 40% less in like-for-like applications versus Arc lamps, largely because of the ability to turn the LEDs on and off instantaneously with no warm-up.

He added that there were no consumables required, with one LED array typically lasting from 30,000 to 100,000 hours, with "totally constant output", and that the lifecycle cost was lower than rival technologies despite a slight premium in capital cost.

The UV LED Curing Association is focused on providing greater insight into the various UV LED solutions currently in the marketplace, as well as into developing applications which are well suited to the technology. One of the goals of the association is to demonstrate how system developers around the world can effectively integrate UV LED technology into applications and, where possible, achieve better efficiencies while saving costs. The founders of the association will work together to help define and establish UV LED-based guidelines for UV LED curing applications. "UV LED curing technology has been steadily evolving in the market for almost a decade," said Lockwood.

"Its application successes continue to generate increased interest; however, industry inconsistencies in language and measurement practices as well as a general misunderstanding of the technology continue to breed confusion and delay implementation.

"It is the hope of the UV LED Curing Association's founders that our collaboration will promote the successful and more rapid adoption of UV LED technology across many different markets."