Low odor: Aqueous ammonia is usually used to dissolve acrylic resins and other water-soluble resins with water. There are two ways to reduce the ammonia odor. First of all, we replaced the ammonia with a small amount of volatile odorless amines, the most appropriate amount of which is about pH 8.1. At this point, the resin still has good solubility, and there is almost no ammonia odor, and ammonia is all combined with the resin to form an ammonium salt. If you try to avoid the use of other amines, you can reduce the ammonia residue, but this will result in a higher viscosity of the resin solution or dispersion. Low-scent products of this type include Hydro-Rez 3110 and 4120. It is also possible not to use ammonia or amines at all. These ammonia-free/amine inks use a unique system consisting of a sulfonated polyester resin and a water-soluble acrylic resin.
Eco-friendly inks: The aforementioned inks can already be considered environmentally friendly inks. To make more environmentally friendly inks, polymerized acrylic resins (Reactol AQ-39) can be used instead of the commonly used low molecular weight polymers. Their plasticization mechanism is the same. Only 50% of the polymerized alkyd resin can be used to achieve the same plasticization without loss of performance. The biggest advantage of polymeric acrylic resins is that migration does not occur. Low molecular weight polymers, on the other hand, usually produce a certain degree of migration, which leads from the ink film to the substrate and the products in the package.
High gloss: Enhancing the gloss of inks and finishes is exactly what printers are looking for. The new manufacturing method can increase the gloss by 20-30 while maintaining the following properties: drying speed, transparency, color density, dirty plate, heat resistance, (dry, wet and ice water) resistance to rubbing, resistance (scratching) , water, grease, acid). The abrasion resistance is slightly reduced but still acceptable.
Alkali resistance: Water-based inks can be used for composite paper printing, but it is difficult to obtain good printability, easy cleaning, and low VOC using epoxy resin systems. A new type of waterborne polymer creatively uses a combination of alkyd and acrylic technology for composite gravure and flexo inks, varnishes and primers. This hybrid resin is made by adding a special water-dispersible long oil-based alkyd resin to an acrylic emulsion, giving the composite paper ink superior dry fastness, adhesion, low VOC, ease of use, and Alkaline and 409 excellent resistance.
Low Water Absorption Waterborne Acrylic Resins: There are a few types of water-absorbing acrylic resins used primarily for printing "wet" packaging, such as fruit and vegetable packaging. Another type of acrylic polymer has a low moisture vapor transmission rate and is used in packages that do not permit the free passage of water vapor. The former exhibited good abrasion resistance, resistance to dry rubbing and was not anti-adhesive; the latter was film-forming acrylic, which was still in the R&D stage but was almost commercialized.
Adhesion: Water-based inks can be used to print flexible films such as PE, PP, and polyester films. However, it is difficult to obtain good adhesion and ice water resistance. Eastek 3020 is a unique polymer that incorporates other resins in the acrylic emulsion particles to provide superior adhesion to the ink. This polymer is also suitable for the manufacture of Lamination ink binders.
Other drying methods: Light-curing inks are the development trend for flexographic inks. This drying method gives ink and varnish faster drying speeds and better performance. Recently, flexographic waterborne UV products have become increasingly popular. They are more conducive to health and environmental protection due to the use of aqueous systems and reduced emissions. In addition to black ink, their alkali resistance and 409 resistance are very good.