Advantages of Yoga Mat UV Printing Process

UV printing, an environmental friendly technique, will certainly lead the future trend of printing. This advanced technique can achieve 100% solidifying without solvent evaporation or powder spraying. The ink can be dried instantly and will not fade. The accuracy of the printing allows immediate processing after printing.

The ink of UV printing has a high abrasion resistance and high gloss, suitable for printing non-absorbent material. The UV solidifying device in the machine can achieve a wet press in dry state. However, most of the UV ink in the market is imported from other countries, and the corresponding cost (including its auxiliary materials) is extremely high, which has become a delicate problem annoying yoga mats manufacturer. The UV printing process of yoga mats has been steadily progressing as Speck continuously invests an untold number of human resources and capitals in the development and research of new processes and materials of yoga mats manufacturing.

Click and know more about yoga mat manufacturing process:

In general, the advantages of UV printing include:

1. High color saturation and better visual effect. Compared with traditional flatbed printing, UV printing has better visual effect of color. Therefore, when it comes to products that have strict requirement for colors, UV printing can yield much more agreeable outcomes.
2. With UV printing, the print will have a high gloss and is visually brilliant. When paired with a matte base color, it provides an attractive visual contrast, which is extremely beneficial for strengthening the high-quality image of the product.
3. Applicable for a wide range of printed materials with completely different physical and chemical properties, including paper, cardboard, plastic, celluloid nitrate, PVC and PE. This unique feature of UV allows it to print a wider range of products than traditional flatbed printing, thereby boasting greater market potential.
4. Drying can be done immediately while printing, which considerably improves production efficiency. And since there is no need to wait for the ink to dry, production time is greatly reduced and much space is saved for storing printed ones, contributing to the reduction in production costs.
5. Since the printing can be dried immediately, there is no need to spray powder, which improves the quality of the product.
6. Better light resistance and abrasion resistance of the print.

Apart from the above mentioned advantages, UV printing also has several shortcomings:

1. The machine investment cost is higher than that of traditional flatbed equipment.

2. The cost of printing ink is about 3~4 times higher than the cost of traditional flatbed printing ink, and the material cost is also higher. The production management technology, process technology and cost control in UV printing production are much more rigorous.

3. The storage cost is higher as the ink storage area requires strict temperature control (the storage temperature should be below 20°C).

4. If the ultraviolet rays leak out, people’s health will be endangered.

5. UV printing is not as prevalent as traditional printing and operators who want to be familiar with UV printing techniques must need more professional training.

The pre-printing design of UV printing plays a vital role in the printing quality of yoga mats. Because the incidence of dot gain of UV printing is comparatively high, the original well- designed pattern may be gray and far from the expected outcomes after printing. Therefore, dot gain is also the key to affecting the color. Apart from understanding the principles of printing design, a preeminent designer should also master the rangeability of dot gain, and take into account the variations of printing to work out exquisite and elegant patterns of yoga mats. All these require designers to gather experience and make conclusions in a gradual way.