The Printing Ink Manual, Fifth Edition
Edited by R.H. Leach, R.J. Pierce
Contents
Preface xi
The editors and authors xiii
List of figures xiv
List of tables xx
Foreword xxii
1 The nature of printing ink 1
1.1 A brief history 1
1.2 The nature of printing inks 5
1.3 Visual characteristics of inks 5
1.4 The nature of printing inks as determined by the printing process 7
1.5 Methods of drying printing inks 9
1.6 The adhesive nature of printing inks 10
1.7 The resistance properties of printed inks 11
2 Printing processes 14
2.1 The offset lithographic process 15
2.2 The flexographic process 33
2.3 The gravure process 42
2.4 The letterpress process 53
2.5 The screen printing process 58
2.6 Ink-jet printing 62
2.7 Toner printing systems 66
2.8 Other printing processes 74
2.9 Print recognition 75
2.10 Substrate selection 81
2.11 The need for communication 84
3 Colour and colour matching 86
3.1 The physical nature of colour 86
3.2 The perception of colour 91
3.3 Additive and subtractive colour mixing 95
3.4 Origins of colour in printed material 101
3.5 Graphic reproduction 103
3.6 The measurement of colour 105
3.7 The recording of colour data and the specification
of colour 110
3.8 Colour matching 115
3.9 Instrumental colour match prediction 120
4 Raw materials 140
Section 1: Pigments 141
4.1 Yellow pigments 142
4.2 Orange pigments 149
4.3 Red pigments 153
4.4 Green pigments 170
4.5 Blue pigments 173
4.6 Violet pigments 180
4.7 Brown pigments 185
4.8 Black pigments 187
4.9 White pigments and extenders 189
4.10 Pearlescent materials 195
4.11 Metallic pigments 185
4.12 Fluorescent pigments 196
4.13 General properties of pigments 197
Section 2: Dyestuffs 199
4.14 Acid dyes 200
4.15 Basic dyes 201
4.16 Solvent dyes 204
4.17 Disperse dyes 207
Section 3: Oils 210
4.18 Drying vegetable oils 210
4.19 Other oils 215
Section 4: Resins 218
4.20 Natural resins 219
4.21 Synthetic resins 225
Section 5: Solvents 250
4.22 Hydrocarbon solvents 253
4.23 Alcohols 255
4.24 Glycols 257
4.25 Ketones 259
4.26 Esters 260
Section 6: Plasticizers 261
Section 7: Waxes 265
4.27 Synthetic waxes 266
4.28 Petroleum waxes 269
4.29 Natural waxes 271
Section 8: Driers 273
4.30 Liquid driers 274
4.31 Paste driers 275
Section 9: Miscellaneous additives 276
4.32 Chelating agents 276
4.33 Anti-oxidants 277
4.34 Surfactants 278
4.35 Deodorants and reodorants 280
4.36 Pure chemicals 280
4.37 Defoaming agents 282
4.38 Laking agents 283
Section 10: Raw materials for radiation curing systems 284
4.39 Pigment selection 284
4.40 Prepolymers 285
4.41 Reactive diluents 286
4.42 Photo-initiators 287
4.43 Additives and inhibitors 287
Section 11: Health and safety at work 288
5 Letterpress inks 323
5.1 Nature of the process 323
5.2 Types of press 323
5.3 General characteristics of letterpress inks 325
5.4 Physical properties 326
5.5 Raw materials 326
5.6 Letterpress ink formulation 330
5.7 Newspaper inks 333
5.8 Inks for packaging 334
5.9 Ink-related problems and their possible solution 336
5.10 Special purpose applications 339
6 Lithographic inks 342
6.1 General introduction to lithography 342
6.2 Cold-set lithographic inks 353
6.3 Web-offset heat-set inks 360
6.4 Sheet-fed inks for paper and board 387
6.5 Three piece tin-printing inks 431
7 Dry offset inks 453
Section 1: Dry offset inks for plastic 453
7.1 Drying mechanisms and the influence of the
substrate 455
7.2 Formulating principles 456
7.3 General characteristics of dry offset inks 459
7.4 The future 461
Section 2: Two-piece can decoration 461
7.5 Method of print application 462
7.6 Ink formulation 463
7.7 Ink properties required 465
7.8 Printing problems 466
7.9 Problem solving 467
7.10 Future trends 472
8 Gravure inks 473
8.1 General characteristics 475
8.2 Physical properties of inks and their measurement 483
8.3 Formulating principles 490
8.4 Inks and varnishes for specific end-use applications 502
8.5 Printing ink faults 536
8.6 Recent developments 540
9 Flexographic inks 547
9.1 General characteristics of the inks 549
9.2 Physical properties of flexographic inks and their
measurement 554
9.3 Formulating principles 560
9.4 Inks and varnishes for specific purposes 569
9.5 Ink-related printing problems and possible solutions 592
9.6 Recent trends 595
10 Screen inks 599
10.1 Important characteristics of screen inks 599
10.2 Requirements of raw materials 604
10.3 Inks for paper and board 607
10.4 Inks for impervious surfaces 610
10.5 Inks for plastic containers 615
10.6 Textile inks 618
10.7 Transfer inks 621
10.8 Overprint varnishes 622
10.9 Daylight fluorescent inks 622
10.10 Process inks 623
10.11 Metallics 624
10.12 Speciality screen inks 626
10.13 Inks for the electronics industry 628
10.14 Ink-related printing problems 632
10.15 Recent trends 634
11 Ultra-violet and electron-beam curing systems 636
11.1 Radiation-curing processes 637
11.2 Electromagnetic radiation and electron beams 638
11.3 Introduction to formulation 641
11.4 Advantages and limitations for ultra-violet and
electron-beam inks and varnishes 642
11.5 Chemistry of ultra-violet initiation and cure 642
11.6 Prepolymer resins for electron beam and
ultra-violet formulations 652
11.7 Diluents for electron beam and ultra-violet
formulations 657
11.8 Formulation principles for ultra-violet-curable inks 661
11.9 Ultra-violet-curable varnish and coatings 666
11.10 Cationic-curing systems 668
11.11 Present and future uses 669
11.12 Electron-beam-curable inks and varnishes 670
11.13 Radiation-curing equipment 671
12 Ink-jet inks 678
12.1 Introduction 678
12.2 Continuous ink-jet inks 679
12.3 Drop on demand ink-jet printing 694
13 Manufacture of inks and varnishes 699
13.1 General requirements 699
13.2 The manufacturing process 700
13.3 Mixing equipment 720
13.4 Milling equipment 726
13.5 Handling, storage and manufacture of UV inks 745
13.6 Manufacture of newspaper inks 746
13.7 Handling and storage of inks 749
13.8 Modern production trends 758
13.9 The future 765
14 Rheology of printing inks 766
14.1 Flow in ideal systems 767
14.2 Deviations from Newtonian behaviour 768
14.3 Apparatus for the measurement of the viscosity
of Newtonian liquids 775
14.4 Practical measurements for non-Newtonian systems 778
14.5 Tack 786
14.6 Tack measurement 787
14.7 Ink distribution and related matters 792
14.8 Rheological measurements and machine design 797
15 Testing, control and quality assurance 804
15.1 Standard tests 805
15.2 Sampling technique 805
15.3 Pigment testing 806
15.4 Inkmaking characteristics 808
15.5 Chips, predispersions and flushed pastes 814
15.6 Dye testing 814
15.7 Resins 815
15.8 Varnishes and oils 817
15.9 Solvents 820
15.10 Radiation-curing products 825
15.11 Miscellaneous materials 826
15.12 Ink quality control 827
15.13 Short-term ink testing 828
15.14 Long-term ink testing 833
15.15 Press performance tests 837
15.16 Dry print performance tests 843
15.17 Statistical process control 854
15.18 Quality assurance 861
16 Analysis of printing inks 865
16.1 Introduction 865
16.2 Chemical tests 866
16.3 Physical techniques 871
16.4 Instrumental techniques 873
16.5 Surface analysis techniques 897
16.6 Environmental monitoring 898
17 Health, safety and the environment 901
17.1 General indroduction to UK legislation 901
17.2 Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974
(HSW Act) 903
17.3 Handling of dangerous substances in the
manufacture of printing inks 906
17.4 Mechanical and operational aspects 929
17.5 Specific printing ink applications 943
17.6 Some international constraints 949