Water-based ink and solvent ink performance comparison

The ink consists of three components: pigment, binder, and some additives. Pigments are color materials; binders are substances that bind pigments to printing materials; additives are used to change the printability of inks such as viscosity, viscosity, and drying properties.

General ink classification, according to different drying methods, can be roughly divided into infiltration drying type (such as: newsprint printing, corrugated paper printing, textile printing), volatile drying type (such as: gravure printing, screen printing, flexographic printing, electronic Pad printing, etc.), oxide conjunctiva type (such as: offset printing) and radiation chemical drying type (such as: UV curing, electron beam curing, etc.) several types. Among them, the solvent content contained in the connecting material of the volatile drying ink is large, so this kind of ink is called a solvent type ink; according to the different solvents used, these inks are divided into two types: water-based and solvent-based. Species.

1. Water-based ink refers to the use of water (and possibly a small amount of alcohol, ammonia, etc.) to dissolve the resin binder in the ink. After the ink is transferred to the substrate (paper), the water evaporates into the environment or penetrates into the substrate. The ink With the evaporation of moisture and drying, the viscosity of this ink is easy to adjust. The printing process has no pollution to the environment. The ink is not toxic to the human body. However, due to the high boiling point of the water in the ink and the large heat of evaporation, the printed matter dries slowly, and the hot air drying device is required. , And some ink prints may also be hygroscopic and sticky due to excessive humidity. The gloss of prints of this type of ink is relatively poor. This type of ink can be used for food packaging printing or other packaging printing, news printing.

2. Solvent-based ink refers to the use of organic solvents such as alcohols, esters, ketones, benzenes to dissolve the resin binder in the ink. After the ink is transferred to the substrate (paper), the solvent evaporates into the environment or penetrates into the substrate. The ink Dry with solvent evaporation. Because it is an organic solvent, it usually has a relatively strong odor. It has pollution to the environment and it is toxic to the human body. According to the relevant regulations of the country, there should be certain environmental protection measures (such as strong exhaust, solvent recovery, etc.) And this ink has a certain fire risk. Compared with water-based inks, solvent-based inks have a fast drying speed. In the printing process, the speed of drying can be adjusted by adding different solvents. Generally, no hot air drying device is required. After the ink is dried, the printed matter has high adhesion to the substrate, and is generally insensitive to the temperature and humidity of the environment. The prints of this type of ink are relatively glossy. The types of printed products are very extensive.

Water-based inks are just a part of our common inks, but in the volatile inks used, there is a trend in the world to use water-based inks or water-alcohol-type inks instead of solvent-based inks. This is mainly from the perspective of environmental protection. For water-based inks, there are some problems in the process and materials that need to be solved. For example: dryness, glossiness, the problem of printed material deformation caused by the absorption of water by the substrate, and the problem of blistering when laminating after printing.