Formulation and use experience of UV matte ink
We are a big printing company in Shenzhen China . We offer all book publications, hardcover book printing, papercover book printing, hardcover notebook, sprial book printing, saddle stiching book printing, booklet printing,packaging box, calendars, all kinds of PVC, product brochures, notes, Children's book, stickers, all kinds of special paper color printing products, game cardand so on.
For more information please visit
http://www.joyful-printing.com. ENG only
http://www.joyful-printing.net
http://www.joyful-printing.org
email: info@joyful-printing.net
UV matte ink, also known as metal-etching ink, is a new type of UV-curable ink. Its printing method is preferred for screen printing. The substrate is mostly gold, silver cardboard or other paper-plastic composite materials with strong mirror effect, drying method. Cured for UV light. Because of its strong sand feel, its prints are beautiful, elegant and generous, and therefore promoted extremely fast. In just a few years, it has occupied a considerable proportion in the high-end packaging and printing fields such as cigarette packets, wine bags and cosmetics. However, due to the low investment threshold of the ink, the level of formulators is uneven, and the available raw materials are too broad; the ink is currently standard internationally or domestically. Therefore, in the printing process, especially in large-scale industrial production, there is a problem of one kind or another. Talking about the UV matte ink should consider several factors in the formulation design process for reference by peers.
First, the printing suitability of UV matte ink
In general, when the UV matte ink is printed in small batches, there is basically no serious printing problem, but when the whole body dynamic screen printing machine is used for high-volume high-speed production, problems will occur. If thousands or tens of thousands of sheets are printed, the UV matte ink cannot be spread completely on the screen, resulting in uniformity in the matte state; the UV matte ink is too thin or poorly compatible, leading to running edges and exposed bottoms. To solve this kind of problem, first pay attention to the following three points in the design of UV matte ink formula:
1. Ensure that the thixotropy of UV matte ink is better, relatively thick at rest, and relatively thin during printing;
2, to ensure that the UV matte ink has a suitable viscosity, suitable adhesion to the screen;
3, to ensure that the UV matte ink has a suitable consistency.
Second, the quality of raw materials of UV matte ink
There are residues in high-volume printing of UV matte inks, which is a headache for many printers, because the large amount of residue not only increases the cost of the printer, but also seriously affects the production efficiency. Then, when designing UV matte inks, it is necessary to carefully examine the raw materials used.
1. Ensure that the particle size of the raw material is compatible with the mesh number;
2, to ensure that the compatibility of various raw materials is good, there will be no chemical reaction, good printing adaptability, high net rate; third is to save as required (shady, sealed, protected from light) and under normal conditions ( 20 - 26 ° C) printing, no dark reaction, even the smallest gel or photosensitive reactants, will lead to printability decline, the network rate is reduced.
Third, the raw material composition of UV matte ink
In order to reduce the cost, some printing manufacturers will use some gold and silver cardboard with relatively poor quality, so it is easy for the UV matte ink to dissolve the gold on the gold card paper. In severe cases, even the gold is completely dissolved, so that the whole print is printed. The product is whitish. Then, in order to overcome such problems, when designing a UV matte ink formulation, it is necessary to consider the composition of various raw materials in a holistic manner, and to ensure the ratio of the molecular weight and the molecular weight of the component having a small molecular weight, so that the substance having a relatively small molecular weight is not dissolved. The background color. Of course, reducing the amount of exposure and shortening the time from printing to curing of the printed product will also have a better effect on overcoming the whitishness of the printed product.
Fourth, the drying problem of UV matte ink
Because the UV lamps used by different printing manufacturers are different, the power is different, and the printing speed is not the same, so it may cause the same kind of UV matte ink to be cured in one manufacturer, but it is cured in another factory. There are too many residues left. If the curing is not transparent, it will be anti-adhesive. If too much photosensitizer remains, it will increase the smell of the printed matter. Therefore, the UV matte ink formulation must be highly targeted, and must fully understand the printing equipment, the number of UV lamps, the power, and the printing speed. Then, according to the actual situation, on the one hand, the proper drying speed is ensured, and the residual amount is kept as small as possible; in addition, the odorless photosensitizer is used as much as possible to ensure that the UV matte ink is substantially odorless after curing, and is not sticky.
In short, in the design of UV matte ink formula, we must fully understand the performance of various raw materials in UV matte ink, comprehensively and accurately examine compatibility, stability and printability. After repeated trials and trials, we will continue to explore. And improvement, make the components of UV matte ink more in line with the requirements of the printing manufacturer.