Mixed inks improve print quality

Hybrid Ink is a new type of ink formulated by mixing ordinary ink components with UV curing materials. It combines general ink and UV curing technology. One or more UV curing lamps are installed on the printing machine to make the ink energy. Printing on traditional sheetfed presses allows UV Varnish to be quickly printed on a blended ink and cured for a uniform, high-gloss finish.

People originally wanted to use mixed inks to achieve UV glazing without deteriorating the gloss. In use, they found that these inks have many good properties of UV inks, but they do not require large amount of UV light when they are dry, and some have used UV in the past. Ink companies have therefore switched to using mixed inks.

Mixed inks perform less well than standard UV inks, but hybrid printers are a good choice for printers who want to make less money. As early as the middle of the last century, UV Varnish has become the first choice for coating because of its high gloss, real-time drying and good abrasion resistance. However, the chemical composition and chemical properties of UV Varnish are different from those of ordinary inks. , The incompatibility between the two leads to poor adhesion between ordinary inks and coating oils. In addition, the initial high gloss of printed glazing products has a short retention time after printing and a glossback phenomenon occurs, resulting in a non-uniform gloss of the printed product, and the glossiness of the dark areas with a large ink coverage area is the greatest. , but the area with small coverage or no printing ink is still very bright.

If ordinary inks are completely dry before they are applied, the UV coating effect is very good. Ordinary ink to prevent back-scratching during the drying stage, it is necessary to spray powder, dusting will make the surface of the light should be smooth and smooth sand appearance, affecting the glazing after printing the appearance of beautiful.

Afterwards, the use of water-based varnishes on the glazing and minimizing dusting had a better effect. However, printing sheets need to be run twice in the printing press, which increases the cost and reduces the efficiency. In order to overcome this shortcoming, printing machinery manufacturers developed a printing press with double coating units. When the paper is fed through the printing press, two coater units print two coats of plain lacquer on regular ink. First, a layer of water-based polish was applied to cover the normal ink layer, and then printed with UV polish to give it a high gloss. Since waterborne varnish is difficult to fully dry, the true drying of the aqueous varnish requires the coalescence of the acrylic emulsion in the varnish. To accelerate its drying on the press will inevitably cause other problems. Although some prints are very good with this type of glazing, they are still difficult for a wide variety of prints.

In recent years, some ink manufacturers have developed common ink materials and curing materials, and put UV lamps on the UV coating units to dry the mixed inks. After the UV coating, high gloss is formed on the surface of the prints. This creates a new type of mixing. Ink.

For example, Hy-Bryte Max of Sun Chemical Company is a hybrid ink combining common materials with UV-cured materials. When used, the UV ink at the end of the printing unit and the UV coating unit can completely cure the mixed ink. The specific glazing effect depends on the type of UV varnish, substrate, and glazing device used, but when the blended ink is combined with UV varnish and cured very well, a consistent and bright print will be obtained.

Mixed ink characteristics
Compared with ordinary ink, mixed ink has many advantages.

Mixed ink printing combines the characteristics of UV light curing and traditional offset materials, so that the ink can be UV light cured to maximize the characteristics of UV ink. The key to this process is UV-curing technology, where high-energy UV lamps cure and dry mixed inks instantly between the press and the coating unit. This instant cure dramatically reduces energy consumption, reduces production, storage, and disposal costs and increases production efficiency.

Mixed inks do not require the use of special ink rollers, blankets, and fountain solutions for UV inks. In this way, printers use mixed inks when they need to be glazing on line, printing them with ordinary inks without glazing. In the case of mixed inks and ordinary inks, different ink rollers and blankets may have some effects when used with mixed inks.

Printed with mixed ink, the gloss after UV coating will not fade, it is especially suitable for high hiding power of ink.

The printing performance of the mixed ink on the printing press is also like ordinary ink. UV ink ink balance is generally more difficult to control, but the mixed ink is similar to ordinary ink, control the ink balance is not difficult. The printing characteristics of UV inks, such as dot gain, overprinting, and printing contrast, are inferior to ordinary inks, and mixed inks are similar to ordinary inks. In addition, because the UV curable material in the mixed ink is not dried before the UV lamp is irradiated, the mixed ink is always flowing on the printing machine, so the printing failure is not caused by the crusting on the ink roller like the ordinary ink.

Because of the instant drying achieved by printing with a mixture of inks, it is possible to apply UV glazing on the press without the need for water-based varnishes. The print quality is no worse than ordinary offset inks.

Mixed inks have a wide range of adaptation and low investment. For printers that already have UV technology, they only need to purchase a mixed ink. For printers that have not yet used UV technology, they only need to invest in UV curing equipment and UV lamps in addition to purchasing mixed inks.