Analysis of water-based ink system

What is "aqueous ink system"?

Water-based ink, which is composed of 4 different chemical raw materials, namely -

Pigment: It conveys the visual sense so that we can see the color.

Resin: It will transfer the color to the surface of the printed body.

Additives: It is a combination of some raw materials to correct the performance of ink.

Solvent: It reduces the viscosity to allow the ink to be transferred to the printed body more easily and then dried.

Of course, the water-based ink solvent must be water, but some suppliers still mix some flammable solvents, also known as water-based inks.

For today, the main function of ink is to present a message or show a selling point. It is also often a perfect picture, so the most important part of ink is toner.

The colorant is one of a dye or a pigment. The dye is an ordinary color agent and can be found in foods with colorants and ballpoint pen inks. Although the printing effect is not good and it is easy to fade, some paper and board printing are still used due to the low price.

Today's high-quality inks are chemically synthesized using pigments, with the exception of the famous carbon blacks and a large number of dioxides. The fact is that the appearance of the pigment and its properties come from the resin that carries it. The formula of more than 100 kinds of pigments made of ink can cover the spectrum of all colors, but in normal use, typical ink formulations are limited to about 50 kinds.

Some of the world's pigment manufacturers include BASF in Germany, as well as some very small factories. Pigments are manufactured in batches, but the color of each factory is slightly different. The common four-color inks: blue, magenta, yellow, and black, each have a little bit of difference, and there is no real standard. In particular, the colors that the Oriental and Western markets place their emphasis on are different. Take the magenta ink as an example. The east prefers blue ones and the west prefers yellow ones.

Pigments are expensive components in inks and increase costs due to the requirement for higher resistance and higher color strength.

The selection of the printed body also affects the choice of pigments. For example, there is a special case where we are asked to make a blue ink that will be printed on white cardboard but the proof is made of yellow kraft paperboard.

Another part of the ink formulation is a resin or carrier transfer system. The main function of the resin here is to transfer the pigment from the printing process to the printed body. In the first step of these processes, the resin is dissolved in a solvent and passes through a printing plate to the object to be printed. After the solvent is absorbed or evaporated and dried, the resin is left to bear to maintain the color. We have a lot of resins to choose from, but it's not possible to use just one resin. Maybe we will consider different resins for printing requirements, such as: high temperature resistance, anti-acidity, high gloss.