Shorewood, Illinois - IST America (ISTA), the North American division of global UV and LED light-curing leader IST Metz, will exhibit at Booth 316 during the 2026 R2R USA Conference & Expo, taking place May 19 - 21, 2026, at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio.

In addition to exhibiting, IST America’s Mark VandenBosch will present “Eliminating Photoinitiators in UV Curing” on Wednesday, May 20, at 2:30 p.m. in Room 25C during the Sustainability & Flex Pack session.

The presentation will focus on advances in UV curing technology that can help reduce or eliminate reliance on conventional photoinitiator chemistry. Conventional UV curing remains a fast, efficient, and widely used method for crosslinking inks, coatings, silicones, and adhesives, but photoinitiator-based systems can introduce challenges related to oxygen inhibition, odor, migration, regulatory pressure, and formulation complexity.

“Converters are being asked to balance productivity, performance, regulatory expectations, and sustainability goals,” said VandenBosch. “For many applications, the question is no longer simply whether UV curing can deliver speed and efficiency. It is how curing technology can evolve to reduce formulation limitations, simplify the process, and support more demanding end-use requirements.”

The session aligns closely with IST’s FREEcure® technology, a breakthrough UV curing platform developed by IST Metz in collaboration with BASF. FREEcure® enables direct UV crosslinking without photoinitiators, offering a practical path for applications where migration, odor, and regulatory considerations are becoming increasingly important.

At Booth 316, IST America will showcase its expertise in UV, LED, Excimer, FREEcure®, SMARTcure, and related curing technologies for roll-to-roll and converting applications. The IST team will be available to discuss system selection, process optimization, retrofits, testing, and application support.