Flexographic printing ink features

Flexographic Printing Ink features

UV curing technology (including UV ink technology) has been internationally known as “green industrial new technology for the 21st century” for its excellent product performance such as high efficiency, energy saving, solvent-free emission, and non-pollution of the environment. Its safety has been recognized by the US environment. The Protection Bureau agrees. UV flexo printing ink features the following points.

(1) It is safe, reliable, solvent-free, non-flammable, and environmentally friendly. It is suitable for packaging materials that require high hygienic conditions such as food, beverages, tobacco, alcohol, and pharmaceuticals. UV flexo printing inks have been used in foreign food packaging for many years without any problems.

(2) Good printability, high quality, no change in the physical properties of the printing process, no volatile solvent, stable viscosity, no paste plate, stacking plate, high viscosity printable, strong ink-jet, high dot definition, reproduction of tone It is good in nature, bright and light in ink, and firmly attached, suitable for printing fine products.

(3) Instant curing, high production efficiency, wide adaptability, good adhesion on paper, aluminum foil, plastics and other printing carriers, product can be stacked immediately after printing, no blocking will occur.

(4) Excellent physical and chemical properties. The UV curing process is a photochemical reaction process in which the UV ink changes from a linear structure to a network structure, so it has many excellent physical and chemical properties such as water resistance, alcohol resistance, alcohol resistance, abrasion resistance, and aging resistance, which is unmatched by other inks. .

(5) Use less. Because there is no solvent volatilization and the active ingredient is high, the UV flexographic printing ink can be converted into ink film nearly 100%, and the amount is less than half of the ink or solvent type ink, and the cleaning times of the Printing Plate and the anilox roller can be greatly reduced.

Based on the above characteristics, UV flexographic printing inks have obvious advantages and development prospects from the angle of environmental protection, quality, or from the perspective of technological development.

The types of UV flexo printing inks are currently in the domestic market, and there are mainly the following UV flexo printing inks for selection.

(1) UV paper ink: fast curing, easy to paste version, high definition, colorful, bright wear, chemical stability, suitable for color fine products printing.

(2) UV polyolefin ink: suitable for corona-treated printing surface of PE, PVC, PET, BOPP plastic film and synthetic paper and other materials, curing speed, adhere firmly, waterproof, wear-resistant, good printability.

(3) UV pearlescent ink: suitable for high-end packaging printing, with pearl luster and metallic luster, gorgeous texture, firm attachment, good printability. In addition to silver white, UV pearl ink, there are a variety of colors and rainbow interference type and other varieties.

(4) UV transparent ink: It is made of a mixture of dyes, dyes, and pigments. It has strong transparency, bright colors, and strong adhesion. It is suitable for vacuum aluminum, aluminum foil, and silver to obtain similar hot stamping effects.

(5) UV Varnish: mainly paper UV Varnish, Polyolefin Film UV Varnish, Matt UV Varnish, Hot Stamping UV Varnish, etc., Fast Curing, Water Resistant, Resistant Grinding, can be glazing on line, it can also stand alone.

Investment in UV flexo printing ink related configurations

When printing companies decide to invest in UV flexo printing inks, consider the following related configurations.

(1) Light source: UV light source is one of the most important factors determining the curing speed and film forming performance of UV ink. The selected light source must ensure sufficient power and UV light emission wavelength, and at the same time pay attention to the aging of the light source and replace the UV lamp in time.

(2) Anilox Rollers: When using UV flexographic printing inks, the screen angle of the anilox roll is preferably 30° or 60°. The following are the configurations of several common ceramic anilox rollers.

200 lines / inch: 9.5 ~ 11.0BCM anilox roller, can be used to print opaque solid patterns.

360 lines/inch: 4.5 to 6.5 BCM anilox roller can be used to print solid and line patterns.

550 lines/inch: 3.0BCM anilox roller can be used to print half tone image products.

650 lines/inch: 2.5 BCM anilox roller can be used to print half tone image products.

800 thread/inch: 2.0BCM anilox roller can be used to print fine mesh tonal image products.

(3) Rubber roller: The rubber roller must be resistant to UV inks. The rubber roller usually used is EPDM rubber (EPDM rubber).

(4) Plate material: Although the currently used flexible photosensitive resin plate can basically be used for UV printing, it is better to use a plate material with better UV ink resistance, such as DuPont's UVP-67 type plate material.

(5) Safety protection: There are two main protections at present: one is the harm of UV light to the human body; the other is the harm of UV ink to the human body. The former needs to use lightproof material to shield and seal the light source, and to strengthen the ventilation and exhaust treatment; the latter should be operated with gloves to prevent UV ink from directly contacting the skin. If UV ink splashes on the skin, it should be wiped dry and then used immediately. Soap and water for cleaning.

UV ink promotion and prospects

At present, the domestic printing industry still lacks understanding of the characteristics and advantages of UV inks, and believes that the price is high (in fact, the unit price is high, the overall cost is not high), and there are doubts about the safety. In addition, the number of domestic equipment that can use UV inks is still relatively small, which affects the widespread application of UV inks.

However, in general, UV ink usage at home and abroad is growing at a relatively large rate every year. With the gradual increase in various UV models and the deepening understanding of the advantages of UV inks, the domestic UV ink market will have a substantial increase. . With the continuous improvement of domestic UV ink quality and its own price advantage (about 60% to 75% of the price of imported inks), the domestic market share of UV inks will gradually expand.