Definition:

After printing or after applying varnish, the ink, varnish, or other coatings needs to dry or cure. Allowing time for the inks to cure helps to eliminate setoff — unintentional transfer of an image from one page to another after printing.

Curing does not refer simply to the ink being dry to the touch. To be cured it needs to be fully adhered to the paper and dry/hardened all the way through.


It can take several hours to a day or two for some inks to fully cure. With screen printing, the inks have to be cured to a point that allows the fabric to be washed without washing away the inks.

Learn About the Cure for Your Print Jobs:

• What is UV Curing? may not be aimed at the designer but it is a fairly easy-to-understand description of this method of curing.
• Curing of Printing Inks by UV is a PDF technical report aimed at printers.
• Curing Screen Printing Inks describes what is needed for inks that require heat curing and those that need to air dry.
• Ink Drying talks about methods for drying printing inks.