Curing with UV light is like baking a cake. The cake mix doesn’t care whether it’s in a gas or an electric oven, or whether the oven is made by GE or Amana. As long as the temperature is right and the batter is cooked long enough you can produce a quality cake. For UV materials, exposure to the right wavelength light, at the right intensity, for a sufficient amount of time will ensure proper cure. It doesn’t matter whether that light comes from an arc lamp, a microwave unit or a UV LED. It is the properties of the light that matter when curing a UV ink, coating or adhesive.
So deciding which UV light source to install is like figuring out which oven to buy for a kitchen. Even though several might get the job done, the best choice may also depend on factors like budget, size, features, quality or reliability. There are a number of tradeoffs, and this article is intended to help you select the best UV light source for your needs. We begin by examining the basics of how UV is produced and the tradeoffs between the major types of UV sources. We then turn to some considerations between suppliers that may be useful in making the wisest choice.