In the field of printing, ordinary economic offset printing ink plays an indispensable role and is the key material that supports the birth of many printed materials. From leaflets, posters, to books and magazines commonly found on the street, ordinary economic offset printing inks have penetrated into all corners of life with their cost-effectiveness and wide applicability.
1. Composition and basic principles
Ordinary economic offset printing ink is mainly composed of pigments, connecting materials, fillers and additives, and the synergistic effect of each component gives the ink unique printing performance.
Pigments
As the core of the ink's color, pigments determine the hue, lightness, and saturation of the ink. Inorganic pigments have good lightfastness, heat resistance and chemical stability, such as common iron blue, chrome yellow, etc., and are often used in printing with high requirements for color durability, such as outdoor advertising, building decoration materials printing, etc.; Organic pigments are known for their bright color, high tinting strength and good dispersion, and are widely used in products that require high color brightness, such as children's books and exquisite picture album printing.
Binder
It is the carrier of pigments and plays an important role in dispersing pigments and giving fluidity and dryness to inks. Vegetable oil-type connecting materials, such as linseed oil, tung oil, etc., make inks that dry slowly, but have good gloss and printability, and are often used in traditional offset printing processes; Resin type binder has fast drying speed and tough ink film, which is widely used in modern high-speed offset printing, such as inks made of phenolic resin, alkyd resin and other binder materials, which can meet the needs of fast printing production.
Fillers
Mainly used to adjust the concentration of ink, reduce costs and improve the printing performance of inks. Common fillers include calcium carbonate, aluminum hydroxide, etc., which can make the ink have suitable viscosity and fluidity, and at the same time improve the wear resistance and water resistance of the ink to a certain extent.
Additives
Although the amount is small, it has a significant impact on the performance of the ink. Desiccant can accelerate the drying speed of ink, especially when printing large areas of ground or high-speed printing, the rational use of desiccant can effectively avoid dirty prints; The dispersant helps the pigment to be evenly dispersed in the binder, prevents the pigment from agglomerating, and improves the stability and printing quality of the ink; Plasticizers can increase the flexibility of the ink film and prevent brittleness after drying.
The basic principle of offset printing is based on the incompatible properties of oil and water. The graphic part on the printing plate is lipophilic and hydrophobic, and the blank part is hydrophilic and oleophobic. First supply water to the printing plate, so that the blank part forms a water film, and then supply ink, the ink is only attached to the graphic part. The printing process is completed by transferring the ink to the substrate by transferring the ink to the substrate. In this process, ordinary economic offset printing ink needs to have good water resistance to prevent the ink from emulsifying during the printing process and affecting the printing quality.
2. Performance characteristics and advantages
(1) Good printing adaptability
Ordinary economic offset printing ink has moderate viscosity and fluidity, which can be smoothly transferred to the ink fountain and ink path system of the printing machine, and evenly transferred to the printing plate. Its viscosity can be controlled by adjusting the formulation of the binder and adding additives to ensure that the ink will not cause paper fluffing due to excessive viscosity during the printing process, and will not cause problems such as dot expansion and poor ink transfer due to too small viscosity. Good fluidity ensures that the ink can flow smoothly in the ink path, achieve stable ink supply, and meet the requirements of different printing speeds and printing processes.
(2) Rich color expression
With a wide selection of pigments, ordinary economical offset inks can be blended in a wide range of colors to meet the color needs of most prints. Whether it is the full-color image reproduction achieved by CMYK four-color printing, or the accurate presentation of spot color ink for specific brand colors and logo colors, it can achieve a better color reproduction. In the printing process, by reasonably controlling the parameters such as ink overprinting, dot size and angle, delicate color transitions and hierarchical performance can be realized, so that the printed matter presents a realistic and vivid visual effect.
(3) Obvious cost advantages
Compared with some high-end, special-purpose inks, ordinary economic offset printing inks pay more attention to cost control in the selection of raw materials and production processes. The use of more common pigments, binders and fillers, as well as mature production processes, make its production cost relatively low. This cost advantage enables printing enterprises to effectively control production costs and improve economic benefits while meeting the printing needs of customers. For some printing projects that have basic requirements for printing quality but have a limited budget, such as general promotional materials, general office document printing, etc., ordinary economic offset printing inks have become the first choice.
(4) Wide range of applications
Due to its good comprehensive performance and cost advantages, ordinary economical offset printing inks are widely used in various printing fields. In packaging printing, it is used for the printing of various cartons, cartons and labels, providing exquisite appearance and information identification for products; In publishing and printing, it is the main type of ink for books, magazines and newspapers, ensuring the clear presentation of a large number of text and image content; In commercial printing, it is often used in the production of leaflets, posters, brochures and other promotional materials to help enterprises promote and market products.
3. Limitations and improvement directions
(1) Insufficient environmental performance
Traditional ordinary economic offset printing inks have certain limitations in terms of environmental protection. Some pigments may contain harmful substances such as heavy metals, which may pose a potential threat to the environment and human health during ink production, during the printing process, and after the printed product is discarded. In addition, the organic solvents in the ink volatilize during the drying process, which will produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which will pollute the atmospheric environment and cause environmental problems such as photochemical smog.
In response to this problem, the research and development of environmentally friendly offset printing inks has become an industry trend. The use of environmentally friendly pigments, such as heavy metal-free pigments instead of traditional heavy metal-containing pigments; Develop water-based adhesives or UV-curable adhesives to replace organic solvent-based adhesives and reduce VOCs emissions. Water-based offset printing inks use water as the solvent, which has the characteristics of non-toxic and non-polluting, but it needs to be further optimized in terms of printability and drying performance; UV curing offset printing ink cures quickly through ultraviolet irradiation, almost no VOCs emissions, fast curing speed, excellent ink film performance, but large equipment investment, relatively high ink cost, and needs to be improved in the future in terms of reducing costs and improving versatility.
(2) The stability of printing quality needs to be improved
In some fields with extremely high requirements for printing quality, such as high-end art reproduction, precision electronic product packaging and printing, etc., the printing quality stability of ordinary economic offset printing ink is slightly insufficient. Under different printing environments (such as temperature and humidity changes) and printing equipment conditions, the drying speed, color consistency and dot reproducibility of the ink may fluctuate, affecting the quality stability and consistency of the printed matter.
In order to improve the stability of printing quality, it is necessary to strengthen the fine control of ink formula and the standardized management of printing process. Through the development of intelligent additives, the ink can automatically adjust its performance according to the changes in the printing environment; Establish a complete ink quality inspection system and printing process control system, real-time monitoring and adjustment of various parameters in the printing process, to ensure that the ink can maintain stable printing performance under different conditions. At the same time, strengthen the matching research of ink and printing equipment, paper and other printing materials, improve the collaborative performance of the entire printing system, so as to improve the stability of printing quality.
With its unique composition, good performance and wide application, ordinary economic offset printing ink occupies an important position in the printing industry. Although there are certain limitations, with the continuous progress and innovation of technology, there is huge room for improvement in environmental performance and printing quality stability. In the future, ordinary economic offset printing inks will continue to adapt to market demand and environmental protection requirements, and continue to contribute to the development of the printing industry.
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