WetFlex™, a new printing process designed to improve print quality and efficiency for flexible packaging using a new generation of energy-curable ink technology, made its global commercial introduction recently.

More than 500 package-printing professionals were on hand for demonstrations (above) of the new Comexi FW press with electron-beam (EB) curing at the pressmaker's headquarters in Girona, Spain. In the WetFlex presentation, made in collaboration with partners Sun Chemical (inks) and ESI Energy Sciences (EB curing), two separate eight-color print jobs were run on the same BOPP substrate and with the same inks. One job was run on an adjacent press using the same substrate but with solvent-based inks so that a direct comparison could be made between the print qualities of each. WetFlex technology involves the inks being wet-trapped through the CI-flexo press and cured instantly by an in-line electron beam at the end of the press.

“This is an extremely interest- ing technology,” says Paul Cooke, production development director for BPI, one of the largest converters of polyethylene packaging in Europe, who attended the program. Cooke confirmed that he would be interested in a trial of the WetFlex process.

WetFlex uses Sun Chemical's UniQure™ flexographic inks, which reportedly demonstrate minimal dot gain for higher quality print graphics. For food applications, the low odor of the UniQure inks virtually eliminates any concern for food tainting.