(Nanowerk News) Inspired by nature’s ability to shape a petal, and building on simple techniques used in photolithography and printing, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a new tool for manufacturing three-dimensional shapes easily and cheaply, to aid advances in biomedicine, robotics and tunable micro-optics.

Ryan Hayward, Christian Santangelo and colleagues describe their new method of halftone gel lithography for photo-patterning polymer gel sheets in the current issue of Science (“Designing Responsive Buckled Surfaces by Halftone Gel Lithography”). They say the technique, among other applications, may someday help biomedical researchers to direct cells cultured in a laboratory to grow into the correct shape to form a blood vessel or a particular organ.

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In today’s marketplace, the performance requirements demanded of UV-cured formulations are significantly greater than at any time during the history of industrial UV curing. These performance requirements include improved hardness and scratch resistance, while retaining flexibility and, providing long-term weatherability.

The successful achievement of these performance characteristics is providing today’s end users with a high value-added benefit to their products. These, and other performance properties, are typically determined by the selection and optimization of the types of oligomers, monomers, and photoinitiators in a given formulation.

Over the past few years, UV LED technology has emerged as a viable option for some UV curing applications. An LED-based UV curing system could offer substantial benefits due to its semiconductor-platform, such as, instant on-off, Hg free, longer life, lower cost of ownership, etc.

However, proper combination of irradiance & wavelength remains as a key factor in achieving successful curing performance. While predictable progress has been made in output power, wavelength scaling, and chemistry compatibility, substantial gaps remain to capitalize full potential of UV LEDs.

The document attached will address the challenges of implementing a complete LED-based curing system, including surface cure (traditionally requiring shorter wavelengths) and perceived trade-offs when using presently available (longer wavelength) LEDs. More innovative system design will be crucial before we will be able to take full advantage of LED technology.

What is UV Curing?

Ultraviolet curing (commonly known as UV curing) is a photochemical process in which high-intensity ultraviolet light is used to instantly cure or “dry” inks, coatings or adhesives. Offering many advantages over traditional drying methods., UV curing has been shown to increase production speed, reduce reject rates, improve scratch and solvent resistance, and facilitate superior bonding.

Read about the RadTech Europe and China 2011 Conferences, and Fusion's Seminar on Curing Technology in the LCD and Touch Panel Markets.

Find out how the inkjet technology industry keeps moving and growing quickly.