Ink?

For wide format digital printing,we need not only a suitable printer but also high quality inks. Ink technology has been rapidly improving, and there are important differences between different kinds of ink. This article is designed to wrap up the importance of inks

WATER-BASED INKS

To know how well inks can be applied on particular media, we first need to be familiar with ink compositions. links generally consist of a colorant,a carrier medium and a water-soluble resin.In terms of the colorant,there are dye-,and pigment-based inks.Because their raw materials come from natural plants,dye praticles are highly delicate and execllent in color performance. Usually,dye-based inks achieve high-quality graphics,but it is known that these types of inks provide low durability.

Unlike dye-based inks,pigment-based inks are made of other kinds of materials,like stone dust.

Compared with dye-based inks,their outdoor durability is better although their color performance is worse. According to digital printing industry experts,water pigment-based inks achieve 70% of the market share in the home digital printing market. That is why digital printing banner market is huge and massive.Even though solvent-based inks with high outdoor durability have been popular in the market for a few years,water-based inks have still shared a great portion of market.But it is expected that there will be big change of market for digital printing inks.

SOLVENT-BASED INKS

The exisitng water-based inks can easily fade in harsh weather including direct sunlight,rain,and wind, etc. Solvent-based inks help to enhance outdoor durability with inkjet pinters. Printhead technology has developed from the thermal type to the piezo printer head, which can utilize other types of inks as well as water-based inks.A thermal printer is basically comprised of a thermal head, which prints by generating heat and causes a chemical reaction whth solvent-based and oil-based inks.Oil-based inks are compatible whth only coates materials likes flex,PP synthetics,PVC vinyls and backili films.But solvent-based inks can be used on uncoated materials. In other words,solvent-based inks were created from customers' and printer manufacturers' desire to enhance out door durability.

UV CURABLE INKS

The digital printing market is undergoing an ultraviolet (UV) revolution. UV inks offer several key benefits for inkjet printers,accordign to induystry experts. One of the most notable advantages is the instant dry feature that leaves the graphics completely cured. As a result, no solvents penetrate the substrate of the surface once they come out of the printer. With the recent advent of new UV curalbe raw materials, inks can be developed which have improvend handling and compatibility whth a wide range of substrates including environment friendly materials and wood boards. The ideal UV curalbe inkjet inks will enalbe printed emaiges to have water resistance, fade resistance,no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and multumedia applications. UV curable inks would allow a variety of uncoated media:from roll feed to rigid substrates(fromic,glass,etc.) to be used. This will expand the potential applications for printing of graphics. The requirement for laminatinon will also not be required.