The Roto-Hybrid team recently attended and spoke at the ERA Paper and the ERA Environment, Health and Safety Commissions meeting in Würzburg, Germany.
At a time when there is much uncertainty as to the up and coming REACH regulations in respect of chromium compounds in gravure and their future use, increasing regulations and possible outright bans the focus of the ERA meeting is for those within the European print supply chain to meet and discuss the challenges and opportunities.
In addition to giving a brief update on the (size variable polymer build-up) Hybrid Cylinder the focus of the presentation, in keeping with the theme, was concentrated on HCR, otherwise known as the Hybrid Chrome Replacement Gravure cylinder technology which will enter into the gravure market in 2018.
A viable gravure cylinder technology without the use of chromium is of considerable interest to the gravure sector and in addition to the technical benefits of using HCR, which has its roots in diamond-like-carbon, by removing the use of chrome, the financial and regulatory headaches of its use are also removed.
The Hybrid Chrome replacement coating is a Patent Pending environmentally safe hybrid cylinder coating process which offers superior print results and lower print cost with increased cylinder longevity.
The RotoHybrid team have begun an extensive program of testing and we will be releasing data of the chrome replacement technology in both pre-press and on-press environments in the coming months.