The 21st century is a century of environmental protection. People have become increasingly aware of the importance of environmental protection for human survival and sustainable development. Starting regular color projects, developing regular color products, and adapting to environmental protection requirements are already urgent tasks. With the appearance of various products, it will inevitably require better green packaging and more applicable green printing materials and corresponding printing methods. Flexo printing is in line with the needs of this era and is increasingly becoming the preferred green packaging and printing process at home and abroad.
In the past more than a decade, the reason why flexographic printing has emerged and developed rapidly in the packaging industry at home and abroad, in addition to flexographic advantages and technological advancements, one of the most important factors is that it has adapted to the requirements of environmental protection and green packaging. , Can be widely used non-toxic, non-residual solvents, non-environmental pollution of water-based inks, UV inks and alcohol-soluble inks. In the United States there is no place for flexo printing and packaging products. U.S. policies and regulations are very strict with respect to environmental protection and hygiene. Many products can only be printed with flexo printing or can only be printed with water-based inks and UV inks. According to statistics, in the United States, flexographic printing accounted for about 72% of the packaging and printing industry in 2000; in the United States, the growth rate of flexographic printing in the United States reached 6%, making the market in the US printing industry rise to 23%. -twenty four%.
Recently, a flexographic printing company in Xi’an appeared exciting. A well-known beverage company headquartered in the United States needs to print colored stickers of ten colors (both positive and negative colors). For the requirements of environmental protection, the original gravure printing was used. Now it is designated to use flexographic printing, and it is hoped that in mainland China, print. Through various aspects of their understanding, they found the printing plant in Xi'an with skepticism, and sent Australian experts responsible for the design of the label to Xi’an to watch the samples. After many efforts of the plant, they finally used water-based inks. The finest first-class products have been printed and fully met the requirements of the United States. The factory's good flexo equipment, serious and responsible work attitude and superb technology have won the user's satisfaction and praise. The application of photosensitive resin flexo printing has not only significantly improved the quality of flexographic printing, but also limited the application of solvent-based inks in flexographic printing, promoted the development of green printed materials, and made important contributions to reducing environmental pollution.
Water-based ink is a world-recognized environmentally-friendly printing material, and is the only non-toxic ink approved by the US Food and Drug Association in all printing inks.
The biggest feature of water-based inks is that it significantly reduces the amount of VOC (organic volatiles) emissions, thereby preventing air pollution, improving the printing environment and benefiting the health of workers. It can completely eliminate the harmful effects of certain poisonous substances in solvent ink on human body and the pollution of packaged products, and improve the overall environmental quality. It is especially suitable for food packaging, packaging, and printing products that require strict hygienic conditions such as food, beverage, and pharmaceuticals. In addition, it not only reduces the risk of fire and hazards caused by static electricity and flammable solvents, but also reduces the residual solvent odor on the print surface.
Waterborne printing materials also include aqueous coatings and related auxiliaries. In recent years, domestic enterprises that produce water-based inks and other water-based printing materials have developed rapidly, and their technical quality has matured. The gap with foreign countries is gradually narrowing and they can basically meet the development needs of flexographic printing at home and abroad.
UV radiation curing products (including UV inks and UV varnish) have been "green industry new technologies for the 21st century" with its high efficiency, energy saving, solvent-free emissions, no environmental pollution, and excellent product performance, and its safety has been recognized by the U.S. environment. The Protection Bureau agrees. In the past decade, UV inks and UV coatings have become increasingly popular. According to statistics, the flexographic printing UV ink used by the United States in 2000 has reached 3,500 tons.
UV ink is only a solvent-free security ink, and has many excellent features, such as easy paste version, clear dots, bright color ink, excellent chemical resistance, dosage and so on. The promotion and application of UV inks is not only conducive to environmental protection, but also conducive to the improvement of the quality of flexographic products, and promotes the further development of flexographic technology.