Problems with Metallic Ink and Concerns

Why do we sometimes use the best metal inks, but the printed results are still not satisfactory and are not shiny enough? In addition to the quality of the metal inks used, reasonable production practices are also very important.

Designers often choose metal colors other than gold and silver (metallic colors). Printers will often use metal inks and four-color or other spot color inks to adjust the metal spot color inks, but the metal raw materials used to produce metal inks are relatively soft and thin metal sheets, and many printing operators It is customary to stir the ink with hard-edged metal tools that are sensitive to shear forces. Excessive shear forces can cause the metal pigment particles to deform or form many fine particles. To avoid shear forces on the metal pigments The influence of particles, in the adjustment of metal spot color ink, to use some of the more smooth tools, while avoiding high-speed stirring, or the transferred out of the ink will lose its luster.

In addition, the ink media (such as resin and solvent) used in the manufacture of metallic spot inks by general ink companies are mostly different from the already made metallic inks, plus the metal spot colors as described above. The inks are different from those used to make ordinary inks. Therefore, if you are dealing with a large number of packages and printing, you can obtain better results by directly customizing metal spot inks to the ink factory.

Experience with metal ink

Since the materials used to make metallic inks are all active metal materials, the chemical properties of metallic inks are also very unstable. They must also be tightly sealed during use and storage, so as to avoid absorbing too much moisture and direct exposure to light for a long period of time. In the case of lithography, the use of improper fountain solution can also affect its sparkling effect.

In addition, the density of metallic pigments is large, so compared with ordinary inks, metallic pigments are very easy to precipitate, and if not fully stirred before use, they are not checked for deposits on the bottom of the ink drum before printing on the machine. Hue and gloss vary greatly. In the printing process, the metal ink will continuously volatilize with the solvent, and the viscosity will gradually increase. To ensure the stability and good fluidity and transferability of the metal ink, the ink viscosity should be measured regularly and the solvent should be properly added to keep the ink viscosity stable. status.

The price of metallic ink is much higher than that of ordinary inks, but the recovery of the residual metal ink used in the ink will also find that the gloss is significantly reduced. Therefore, in order to meet the smooth production conditions, the print process should be repeated as many times as possible. A small amount of metal ink is added to the principle of no waste.