Ultraviolet (UV)-enabled curing processes were first used in the 1960s for securing coatings onto furniture. Semiconductor LEDs being used to create UV light is a relatively new process that many printers and converters are still learning about.
Asif Khan can be credited with proving the viability of LEDs for creating ultraviolet light in mid-2001, when his research group at the University of South Carolina created an LED that produced appreciable amounts of UV light at 340nm. The USC group managed to develop LED UV devices that emitted UV-A, UV-B and UV-C light over the course of their research, proving that there was still room for new development in the arena of LED light and its potential uses.
In 2009, Air Motion Systems (now AMS Spectral UV - A Baldwin Technology Company) commercialized a high-intensity, solid-state LED UV curing system designed for the extremely fast curing speeds and high curing intensities/peak irradiance needed for sheet fed offset printing. The development of LED UV provided an alternative to conventional UV systems for solidifying inks, coatings and adhesives as part of the printing process, and revolutionized the options available to commercial printers for drying their inks, along with the long list of productivity, quality, operational and environmental advantages that accompany them.
Outside of printing, the earliest LED UV commercial applications were small-area adhesive and bonding medical device assembly. Today, LED UV’s usage is far beyond what was imagined in the early days, due to its small size, light weight and cool curing capabilities, and as the energy density has increased and costs have decreased. Its use is widespread commercially in graphic arts, wood coatings, electronics, composites, textiles, glass, plastics, household products, pharmaceutical and other markets.
