The market has asked for coatings that will provide value-added attributes – innovative products that bring increased productivity and lower maintenance, print solutions that are sustainable, and technology that is safe for handling and safe for the environment.  Flint Group has responded with a new line of UV flexo coatings for UV LED curing under the EkoCure brand name.

Flint Group’s EkoCure™ Coatings are developed using specially selected raw materials that match the narrow and targeted wavelength area that is typical for UV LED lamp output, and are the first commercially available UV LED coatings available in the market.

The main advantages with UV LED can be summarized as economical and ecological: Quality assuredness brings increased productivity and press uptime;  energy costs will be significantly reduced;  expanded capability to run heat sensitive materials with less heat management costs. Energy will be saved and UV LED lamps are ozone and mercury free.  Printers can realized improved worker and environmental safety.

Printers looking for low maintenance lamps need to consider UV LED technology.  UV LED lamps are nearly maintenance free with no mercury bulb replacement and disposal costs. The range of EkoCure™ UV flexo coatings available include –Gloss Coating, Matte Coating, Product Resistant Coating, Low COF Shrink Coating, Cast and Cure Coating, Rotary Screen Tactile Coating, Primer Coating for non-topcoated films, Primer Coating for various shrink films, Non-Yellowing Coating, Coatings with or without optical brighteners.

This is only the beginning!  Flint Group can develop a coating to meet the specific requirements of almost any narrow web printer using their EkoCure UV LED technology.  In September 2013, Flint Group Narrow Web won the Award for Innovation at The Label Industry Global Awards in Brussels for its EkoCure™ UV LED ink technologies.  Flint Group was named joint winner alongside co-supplier and development partner, Mark Andy.

The judges’ comments were, “UV LED, mercury and ozone free ink technology, from Flint Group now offers a commercially viable option with its new EkoCure™ inks providing improved cure response, cost and productivity savings, waste reduction, energy savings and enhanced safety that will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the future of the label industry.”

Flint Group’s EkoCure™ UV flexo and screen inks are the first-ever narrow web printing inks developed for use in combination printing.  These inks perform to the highest standards and bring economical and ecological benefits to the market.  First launched in the U.S. in 2012, these inks are now globally available through Flint Group’s extensive distribution network.

EkoCure™ technology and the UV LED process is a true game-changing innovation that will lead our industry into the future.  EkoCure™ products are available in a complete range of UV flexo inks, from all base colours in the Pantone® base range, as well as UV rotary screen whites designed for combination printing. The EkoCure™ ink range also offers a complete portfolio of metallic inks, and varnishes with more exciting developments on the horizon.