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Author Topic: Longevity of UV print vs Aqueous pigment print indoors  (Read 825 times)

OSP

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Longevity of UV print vs Aqueous pigment print indoors
« on: April 05, 2016, 07:30:49 am »

Are there any results for fade testing / color shifting for UV printing in indoor use? I couldn't find anything. interesting enough, there is no information on the subject from the companies themselves, one would expect that if it is so resilient, they will boast about that.
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shadowblade

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Re: Longevity of UV print vs Aqueous pigment print indoors
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2016, 08:14:35 am »

Are there any results for fade testing / color shifting for UV printing in indoor use? I couldn't find anything. interesting enough, there is no information on the subject from the companies themselves, one would expect that if it is so resilient, they will boast about that.

Considering that it lasts several years outdoors in the sun, and a year in the sun is equivalent to roughly 100 years indoors in a typical home environment, I'd expect them to last a while - doubly so if laminated with a UV-protective laminate, which you'd probably want to do anyway, in order to control gloss and gloss differential. In addition, since the pigments are wholly contained within an impervious polymer layer, there is no exposure to airborne pollutants and minimal gas fading. A lot of UV-related fading is actually gas-related, since one of the mechanisms of UV-related degradation is ionisation of the colourant molecule, followed by reaction of the molecule with an airborne molecule to form a non-coloured molecule; naturally, this mechanism can't happen when the pigment isn't in contact with air.

I would expect more problems to arise from failure of adhesion than from fading, due to differential thermal expansion and contraction of the substrate and the ink layer, or cracking/crazing due to the same thing.
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