UV inks dry through a photomechanical process instead of normal evaporation and absorption. So the quality of print is obviously better. Thus, the newspaper houses can play with quality, Choudhury said, adding that as UV inks dry on plastic and other non-porous substrates, the scope for value addition increases automatically.

“Precautions of using UV printing inks are that you do not put UV printing inks in direct sunlight, do not mix conventional printing inks with UV and avoid mixing metallic colour (silver/gold) and normal printing inks as much possible,” Choudhury said.

According to Choudhury, UV printing inks handling and storage is important. It should be stored in black polythene containers. The temperature should be 15 to 30 degrees Celsius. The storage area has to be ventilated. The person handling the inks must wear UV resistant neoprene gloves and aprons. “In case of accidental spillage on body, use neutral pH6 liquid soap for cleaning,” she said.

She added that LED UV is the future and better than mercury lamps. In LED UV, there is no mercury, it has instant ignition, and it consumes low energy. Choudhury gave the example of a Japanese newspaper printer who is using LED UV on a Goss web offset printing press.

“UV printing will provide newspapers a great competitive advantage by enabling them to print on matte and gloss finish, coated, hi-brite, news and supercal stocks. The product variety is endless. UV curing systems also assure substantial savings in energy costs, as compared to conventional gas burning ovens,” she said.