DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY – 29 May 2008 − A breakthrough in UV curing inks for sheetfed offset printing has been unveiled by Sun Chemical as part of its growing commitment to customers and the environment. Commercial production has started for a world-first 'eco-friendly' UV ink, called SUNCURE Advantage, which uses 30 percent sustainable materials – a first for a UV curing ink.
 
The twin challenges of high productivity at the highest press speeds, together with the need to source 'sustainable' materials, have resulted in this unique range of inks. These new inks are the result of several years of research and development and bring real advantages to UV printing.
 
Available in a range of process inks, blending colors, Pantone PMS and soon the new Pantone GOE system, SUNCURE Advantage has excellent lithographic properties and can be printed at maximum press speed on all the latest generation of UV curing offset presses on a wide range of paper and carton board substrates.
 
The new inks also have environmental advantages over traditional UV curing technology, which was based on other raw materials, most of which are derived from petrochemicals. Opportunities for the formulators to use materials from renewable or sustainable sources have, until now, been strictly limited.
 
"This is a genuine world first in UV printing," said John Adkin, sheetfed product director, Sun Chemical Europe. "The new materials developed by Sun Chemical for SUNCURE Advantage provide a UV curing formulation containing about 30 percent materials from sustainable sources.  As part of our commitment to customers and the environment, we will continue strategic research in this area to increase this level still further."
 
"We choose carefully the materials and processes we use to help reduce our impact and our customers' impact on the environment," said Felipe Mellado, corporate vice president and group managing director, Sun Chemical. "We strive to manufacture products that meet local regulatory requirements and we work with business partners, governments and industry trade groups to measure and promote sustainability. At the same time as helping the environmental concerns of our customers through launching these innovative products, we will continue to deliver the high-quality solutions and services our customers expect."
 
The Sun Chemical SUNCURE Advantage range is just one of a number of inks launched by Sun Chemical, a PrintCity alliance member, at Drupa 2008, where it will have inks running on many of the major press manufacturers' printing presses.
 
SUNCURE Lazer is a new set of UV curing offset inks for printing business forms, continuous stationery and direct mail. This new range of products is an innovative solution which enables continuous printing followed by second impression printing using high temperature laser personalization.
 
The inks have been developed to give high density and high definition on the widest range of coated and uncoated papers. This is achieved using new technology designed to give excellent lithographic stability with positive UV curing, even at the highest press speeds of up to 440 meters per minute.
 
Following on from the hugely successful 'World Series' launch at drupa 2004, Sun Chemical has launched the Sun Chemical DIAMOND range of four-colour process sheet offset inks for high productivity in commercial and packaging printing.
 
Based on the latest mineral oil-free technology, these are state-of-the-art offset printing inks with a new formulation that produces excellent printability, fast setting and low misting. Stacks of ink-printed work can be moved quickly through to finishing, i.e. cutting, folding or binding, with a minimized risk of marking.  Sun Chemical DIAMOND uses vegetable oils, vegetable oil derivatives, as well as alkyd and rosin-based resins, which means the level of non-fossil carbon present is above 70 percent.