Gravure ink is generally composed of four main parts: pigment, resin, solvent and auxiliary agent. The proportion of each part is determined through experiments. Excellent gravure ink formulation with excellent post-printing properties, such as gloss, vividness, abrasion resistance, dot reproducibility, good film formation, leveling, re-dissolvability, overprinting, proper initial drying And dry, lower residual solvents, etc., and these properties are obtained on the premise of excellent ink transfer performance, while the ink also meet the requirements of modern high-speed gravure printing presses.
The design of the gravure ink formulation is mainly based on the theory of ink manufacturing, through the wealth of practical experience of ink engineers, plus some inspection and operation equipment, such as: detection of viscosity, hue, gloss, abrasion resistance, etc., and then go to the gravure printing factory on the machine test The transfer performance of the ink to determine whether the gravure ink is suitable, and the process is long and wasteful, and the formula risk is high. If the formula is not applicable, it will come back again. This way, not only is it wasteful, it has a long cycle, and it may even Loss of business opportunities, if gravure printing machine is used as a formula test tool in this process, the period of proofing can be greatly shortened and the consumption of proofing ink and other materials can be saved. In the short term, it can produce qualified ink products. Theoretically speaking, the structural parameters of the gravure printing tester are basically the same as the current structural parameters of the unit gravure printing machine. The structural parameters include the perimeter of the printing plate roller, the number and depth of printing lines, and the circumference of the embossing rubber roller. The length and hardness, the angle and pressure of the squeegee, the pressure of the squeegee and the line speed of the imprinting point of the printing plate, from the principle of ink transfer of the gravure printing, these parameters basically determine the quality of the gravure printing product ( The test machine adopts single sheet feeding without printing tension, but the printing tension only affects overprinting accuracy and does not affect the printing effect). In practical terms, our company has used the very successful gravure printing ink on the gravure machines such as Bobst, and achieved the printing effects (including printing hue, leveling, glossiness, etc.) under the same conditions on the gravure ink testing machine. Abrasion resistance, residual solvents, etc.) are exactly the same. In addition, by adjusting the ink formulation, the ink formulation is artificially broken to balance, (by adding the silicone that can cause the ink to produce shrinkage holes, at this time, the black spots on the surface of the ink cannot be seen on the paper by the ink stick scraping. , And through the gravure printing tester can see that there are obvious "black spots", this phenomenon is the cause of shrinkage). Using this formula on a gravure printing tester, the resulting printing effect is also the result of breaking the ink formulation balance.
Through the above comparative analysis, the results of the gravure printing tester are accurate and can be used to inspect the substrate and the printing plate for the formulation of the printing ink, and the printing effect preview provides accurate information.
Generally speaking, in the determination of the ink formulation on gravure machines of gravure printing manufacturers, ink suppliers generally do not change the amount of each component of the formulation, the type of raw materials used, and the manufacturing process, otherwise it will be used by ink manufacturers for production. The risk of goods is very high. Theoretically, there is a possibility of optimizing the ink formulation. Due to the lack of application data of the gravure printing press test, it does not dare to optimize. If a gravure printing tester is used, an optimized formulation system can be achieved and the formulation cost can be optimized. Composition to meet the requirements of the gravure printing company's personalized service. In some cases, gravure printing manufacturers will also have special requirements on the printed products, and the gravure ink formulation should be modified accordingly. At this time, if a gravure printing tester is used as a formula design tool, it can be touched. That is, save time and effort. In addition, the use of intaglio printing testers also plays a key role in the hue control between batch and batch production of spot color inks by gravure ink manufacturers, which can achieve a good level of hue stability.
With the development of society, the gravure ink has also made continuous progress, environmental protection, conservation, resources, energy and many other issues continue to emerge, using gravure printing test machine, can give priority to the development of new products to meet the new requirements of modern gravure printing. For example, gravure gravure printing inks, water-based gravure printing inks, and UV gravure printing inks can be developed by using a gravure printing tester. Information such as plate conditions, printing speed, and ink formulation parameters can be obtained.
7 Application of Gravure Printing Tester
The gravure printing tester can provide accurate and reasonable formula data for the ink manufacturer to adjust the formula and design the formula (the experiment sand mill can make 2 kg of ink).
The gravure tester provides a template for the ink manufacturer to detect ink properties (such as residual solvent content of the print, gloss, abrasion resistance, various resistances, etc.).
The gravure tester can effectively control the color difference between the batch and the batch when the ink manufacturer produces the spot ink.
The gravure printing tester can accurately and quickly reflect the use performance of raw materials in the ink when developing and producing raw materials for ink raw material manufacturers.
The gravure printing tester can provide the co-ordinated and unified data between the gravure printing factory and the substrates, printing inks, printing plates, etc. before printing.
Accurately and quickly provide the basis for the selection of substrate, printing ink, and printing plate parameters for gravure printing manufacturers.
Gravure printing testers can provide effective experimental tools for the theoretical study of gravure printing.
In summary,
The gravure printing tester builds a bridge between printed materials (gravure ink, substrate for printing) and actual printing. With this bridge, the actual process of printing materials and printing can be concise, convenient, fast, and effective.
Source: Shenzhen Design Online