Ink Screen Printing Curing Line: A Key Equipment for Presenting Exquisite Screen Printing Effects

In many industries such as printing and packaging, electronic product manufacturing, and cultural and creative product processing, the ink screen printing curing line serves as an important equipment that ensures the long-term preservation and excellent quality of screen printing patterns, playing an irreplaceable role. Through a series of precise and coherent processes, it enables the transformation of ink from a liquid state to a solid state, making the ink firmly adhere to the surfaces of various substrates, thus presenting clear, vivid, and durable screen printing effects.

I. Equipment Composition

• Screen Printing Area: This area is the starting link of the ink screen printing curing line, mainly composed of a screen printing machine. The screen printing machine is equipped with an accurate screen plate positioning device, which can ensure the precise alignment of the screen plate and the substrate, guaranteeing the accuracy of pattern printing. The squeegee system is one of the core components of the screen printing machine. It evenly scrapes the ink across the screen plate through the set pressure and speed, enabling the ink to pass through the pattern part of the screen plate and transfer onto the substrate surface, forming a preliminary screen printing pattern. In addition, the screen printing area is also equipped with a substrate fixing device, which can adapt to substrates of different shapes and sizes, ensuring that the substrates remain stable during the screen printing process.

• Curing Area: This is the key part for achieving ink curing. According to different ink characteristics and production requirements, there are various heating methods in the curing area. Commonly, ultraviolet (UV) curing is used. Through the emission of high-intensity ultraviolet rays by UV lamps, the ink containing photosensitizers undergoes a photochemical reaction in a short time and cures rapidly. This curing method is fast and efficient, suitable for production scenarios with high requirements for curing speed. In addition, hot air circulation curing is also one of the commonly used methods. It uses a hot air blower to evenly blow the heated air towards the substrate after screen printing, causing the solvent in the ink to volatilize and the resin to cross-link and cure. The advantage of hot air circulation curing is its wide applicability to inks, which can meet the curing needs of different types of inks. The curing area is usually equipped with a precise temperature control system, which can accurately adjust the curing temperature and time according to the characteristics of the ink and process requirements, ensuring that the ink achieves the best curing effect.

• Conveying System: The conveying system that runs through the entire ink screen printing curing line is responsible for smoothly conveying the substrates from the previous process to the next process. There are various conveying methods. For thin, light, and small-sized substrates, belt conveying is often used, which has the characteristics of smooth operation and low noise. For larger-sized or heavier substrates, chain conveying or roller conveying is mostly used. These conveying methods can bear a relatively large weight, ensuring that the substrates will not be displaced or shaken during the conveying process. The conveying system has a stable operating speed adjustment function, which can flexibly adjust the conveying speed according to the rhythm of the screen printing and curing processes, ensuring the continuity and high efficiency of the entire production process.

• Exhaust Gas Treatment System: Since harmful exhaust gases such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are generated during the ink curing process, in order to protect the environment and the health of operators, the ink screen printing curing line is equipped with a special exhaust gas treatment system. Common exhaust gas treatment methods include activated carbon adsorption, which adsorbs the harmful components in the exhaust gas through the porous structure of activated carbon; catalytic combustion uses a catalyst to oxidize and decompose the organic matter in the exhaust gas into carbon dioxide and water at a relatively low temperature. The exhaust gas treatment system can effectively reduce the pollutant content in the exhaust gas and make it meet the environmental protection emission standards before being discharged.

II. Working Principles

• Screen Printing Principle: When the screen printing machine is working, the screen plate is fixed in a specific position, and the substrate is placed under the screen plate and fixed. The squeegee applies a certain pressure on the screen plate and moves at a constant speed, squeezing the ink on the screen plate through the pattern hollowed-out part of the screen plate and transferring it onto the substrate surface. Since the mesh holes in the pattern part of the screen plate are open while the other areas are blocked, the ink can only form an impression in the pattern area, thus completing the screen printing process.

• Curing Principle: For UV curing, when the ink containing photosensitizers is irradiated by the ultraviolet rays emitted by the UV lamp, the photosensitizers absorb the energy of the ultraviolet rays and stimulate the resin molecules in the ink to undergo a polymerization reaction, forming a three-dimensional network structure in an extremely short time and making the ink cure rapidly. Hot air circulation curing is based on the principle of heat transfer. The hot air transfers heat to the ink, causing the solvent in the ink to volatilize when heated, and at the same time, promoting the cross-linking reaction between the resin molecules, gradually transforming the ink from a liquid state to a solid state and achieving the curing of the ink.

• Exhaust Gas Treatment Principle: Taking activated carbon adsorption as an example, the exhaust gas enters the activated carbon adsorption device through the pipeline. Due to the huge specific surface area and rich microporous structure of the activated carbon, the VOCs molecules in the exhaust gas are adsorbed on the surface of the activated carbon under the action of intermolecular forces, thus achieving the purification of the exhaust gas. During the catalytic combustion process, under the action of the catalyst, the activation energy of the oxidation reaction of the exhaust gas is reduced, enabling the organic matter to react with oxygen at a relatively low temperature and be oxidized and decomposed into harmless carbon dioxide and water, achieving the purpose of purifying the exhaust gas.

III. Application Fields

• Printing and Packaging Industry: In the printing process of various paper packaging boxes, labels, shopping bags, etc., the ink screen printing curing line can achieve exquisite pattern printing and firm ink curing, making the packaging products more attractive and recognizable. For example, the delicate patterns on cosmetic packaging boxes and the bright colors on food packaging bags are often completed through the ink screen printing curing line.

• Electronic Product Manufacturing Industry: Components of electronic products such as mobile phone casings, tablet computer backs, and keyboard keys often need to print brand logos, function icons, and other information through the screen printing process. The ink screen printing curing line ensures that these screen printing patterns are not easy to wear and fade during daily use, enhancing the appearance quality and brand image of the products.

• Cultural and Creative Product Processing Industry: Various cultural and creative products such as bookmarks, postcards, and keychains can be printed with unique artistic patterns and cultural elements through the ink screen printing curing line, meeting consumers' needs for personalized and high-quality cultural and creative products, and at the same time, ensuring that the patterns remain clear and complete during long-term use and preservation.

IV. Equipment Advantages

• High-efficiency Production: The ink screen printing curing line realizes the continuous operation of the screen printing and curing processes, greatly shortening the production cycle. The advanced equipment operates at a high speed, and the connection between various processes is tight, enabling the rapid completion of the screen printing and curing tasks of a large number of substrates, improving production efficiency, and meeting the needs of large-scale production.

• High-quality Printing Effects: The high-precision screen plate positioning and squeegee system in the screen printing area ensure the accuracy and clarity of the ink screen printing patterns. The precise control of temperature and time in the curing area enables the ink to cure evenly and sufficiently, avoiding problems such as blurred patterns, color fading, and insufficient adhesion, ensuring the high quality of the screen printing products and presenting exquisite visual effects.

• Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection: The UV curing method used in the equipment has low energy consumption and high speed. Compared with the traditional heating curing method, it greatly reduces energy consumption. At the same time, the equipped efficient exhaust gas treatment system can effectively reduce the emission of harmful exhaust gases, meet the current environmental protection requirements, and reduce the impact of enterprise production on the environment.

• Wide Adaptability to Substrates: The ink screen printing curing line can adapt to various substrates made of different materials, including paper, plastic, metal, glass, etc. By adjusting the screen printing and curing process parameters, ideal screen printing and curing effects can be achieved on the surfaces of different materials, which has strong versatility and flexibility and meets the diverse production needs of different industries.

With its advanced technology, high-efficiency production capacity, and excellent product quality guarantee, the ink screen printing curing line has become an important tool for many industries to improve product appearance quality and production efficiency, promoting the development and progress of related industries.