The inks became available for purchase this week and have been beta-tested at four UK sites and 12 across Europe over the past two months, all of which will continue to use them. The formulation is based on Flint’s Platform Technology advanced resin technology system, which was first used in its UltraCura low-migration inks that were launched two months ago.
The development phase for Xcura Evo began around nine months ago and the product is now being manufactured in both Europe and North America.
Peter Baird, Flint Group sheetfed marketing director for EMEA, said the move represented the group making further inroads into the “fast-growing” LED-UV sector.
He highlighted Xcura’s main unique selling point as being that it can be used on H-UV style presses as well as LED-UV due to its low-energy curing.
Effective immediately, Xcura Evo will replace two of Flint’s pre-existing products, Xcura Max and Xcura King, as it can outperform them. Users of Xcura Max and Xcura King will have the option to automatically upgrade to Xcura Evo.
“One of the issues with LED-UV is that some processes run slightly differently than others so you might have to use different products on the different presses. With Xcura Evo it’s transferrable,” said Baird.
The product is available in CMYK, with customers who require spot colours able to use Flint’s Xcura LED range. It is ISO 12647-2 certified and compliant with current raw material exclusion lists.
Trevor Amps, Flint’s global product manager for Energy Curing inks, said the product is mainly intended to take advantage of the growing number of sheetfed manufacturers either retrofitting LED-UV lamps onto existing machines or installing new LED-UV presses.
Baird added: “It is a fast evolving marketplace and we believe we have brought a product that is ahead of everybody else, but who’s to say someone else down the line won’t come along with something else. People will expect to see improvements all the time and we are trying to make it as easy as possible to run with.”
Flint anticipates the product will sell well in a variety of regions, with the UK hailed by Baird as one of the fastest adopters of LED-UV in Europe.
“It will definitely be a big feature in this country,” he added.
“But considering this is a global launch, the take-up of LED-UV is a global phenomenon. We’ve got interest from all regions.”
