Pay attention to the details of the life of environmentally friendly ink

Although the environmental protection of ink is constantly increasing, it is necessary to pay attention to or even change living habits in order to completely get rid of pollution from ink.

Since the solvent in the ink volatilizes, the main pigments, resins and additives left in the printed matter are the printed matter, and if it is a printed matter used for food and pharmaceutical packaging, it is best not to come into direct contact with the food. Oils, alcohols, and esters (in wine and flavors) in food may dissolve the resin in the ink. Then there is a risk that the food will be contaminated with resins and pigments.

In particular, solvent-based, water-based and other volatile dry inks are more likely to be reconstituted. UV ink may be a little better, because it is light-curing, unlike the oxidation condensation of offset ink, it is less likely to be reconstituted after drying.

When people are flipping through books and newspapers, they have to overcome the bad habit of using their fingers to get saliva from their tongues, so as not to bring ink into their mouths.

Eco-friendly inks are inks that do not contain or contain small amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Eco-friendly ink has the following advantages:

It is more friendly to human health and the environment.

The drying speed is fast and the efficiency is high.

Good water resistance, light resistance and weather resistance.

When using environmentally friendly inks, you need to pay attention to the following details of life:

Attention should be paid to ventilation when using to avoid inhaling harmful components in the ink.

After use, the printing equipment and tools should be cleaned in time to avoid ink residue.

The printed waste should be properly disposed of to avoid environmental pollution.

Specifically, here are some things to keep in mind:

Pay attention to ventilation when using.

Although eco-friendly inks do not contain or contain a small amount of VOCs, they still have a certain amount of volatility. Therefore, when using environmentally friendly ink, attention should be paid to ventilation to avoid inhaling harmful components in the ink.

Wash promptly after use.

Although the environmentally friendly ink has good water resistance, it still has a certain adhesion. Therefore, after use, the printing equipment and tools should be cleaned in time to avoid ink residue.

Dispose of waste properly.

The printed waste should be properly disposed of to avoid environmental pollution. Waste can be collected centrally and handed over to a professional organization for disposal.

Here are some common types of eco-friendly inks:

Water-based inks: Water-based inks are the most common type of eco-friendly inks. Water-based inks do not contain VOCs and have good water resistance, light fastness and weather resistance.

UV inks: UV inks cure upon exposure to ultraviolet light. UV inks are VOC-free, have a fast drying speed and good water, lightfastness and weather resistance.

Ceramic inks: Ceramic inks are cured at high temperatures. Ceramic inks have good water resistance, wear resistance and corrosion resistance.

When choosing environmentally friendly ink, you should choose according to your actual needs. For example, if you need to print food packaging, you should choose environmentally friendly inks with good water resistance, light fastness and weather resistance.

Water-based ink, which is made of water-soluble resin, organic pigments, solvents and related additives through composite grinding. Water-soluble resin is a water-based ink binder, the domestic often choose water-soluble acrylic modified resin as a binder, its heat resistance, weather resistance, chemical resistance, pollution resistance and gloss have significant advantages, whether direct dispersion or synthetic polymer emulsion, all show excellent performance, water-based ink does not contain volatile organic solvents, not only can reduce the toxicity of printed residues, but also can prevent fire due to static electricity and flammable solvent contact, is a new type of "green" printing ink.

The development history of China's environmental protection ink.

If the environmentally friendly inks launched in the Chinese market are in chronological order, they can be divided into the following types.

Solvent-based inks: Ordinary solvent inks generally contain aromatic hydrocarbon solvents (toluene, xylene). Some international ink companies are the first to launch non-aromatic hydrocarbon solvent inks in the Chinese market, using alcohols, esters, ethers, ketones, and gasoline as solvents, eliminating the possible harm caused by aromatic hydrocarbon solvents.

At present, the solvent-based inks used for flexographic printing are basically aromatic-free, but there are still many volatile organic solvents, which mainly affect the air quality of the printing workshop. Residual odors are already very rare in printed matter, and there may be a small amount of odor in composite prints, but they are basically not found in surface prints.

Compared with solvent-based inks, water-based inks are one step further environmentally friendly. Not only does it contain no aromatic hydrocarbon solvents, but VOCs are also greatly reduced, but it still does not contain zero content, and still contains small amounts of alcohols, ethers, and even organic amines. It has less impact on the environment and mainly pollutes the workshop air.

UV inks: UV offset inks do not contain volatile organic compounds, which is a big step forward from this point of view, and is safer than water-based inks. However, its drying is achieved by ultraviolet light.

Ultraviolet rays have the possibility of inducing ** cancer and can turn oxygen into ozone, so the drying device of the printing machine should be installed with exhaust equipment to discharge ozone outdoor. Water-based UV ink, like water-based ink, will have a small amount of volatile organic solvents, compared with ordinary UV offset printing ink, its environmental performance is worse.

In fact, the definition of environmentally friendly ink is only relative, but for the largest offset printing ink, the contribution of environmentally friendly ink to environmental protection has not stopped.

A look at the pp forum, a lot of ink information, there are a lot of friends who do ink and printing.

Ink is currently the largest source of pollution in the printing industry, and the world's annual output of ink has reached 3 million tons. Hundreds of thousands of tons of global volatile organic compounds (VOCs) pollution are emitted by inks every year.

These organic volatiles can form a more serious greenhouse effect than carbon dioxide, and will form oxides and photochemical smog under sunlight, which seriously pollutes the atmospheric environment and affects people's health. In addition, heavy metals and other harmful ingredients in ordinary inks for packaging and printing of food, toys and other packaging will directly endanger the health of consumers.

The organic solvent of printing ink can dissolve many natural resins and synthetic resins, which are important components of various inks, but some of them will damage the human body and subcutaneous fat. It is sucked into the trachea, bronchi, lungs, or transmitted to other organs through blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, and may even cause chronic poisoning of the body. Some inks have the problem of toxicity of heavy metal ions, and pigments and dyes contain carcinogenic ingredients, which are very harmful to human health. Organic solvents such as ethanol, isopropanol, butanol, propanol, butanone, ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, toluene, xylene, etc., are often used in printing inks.

These solvents are harmful to the human body.

With the introduction of a series of non-aromatic hydrocarbon solvent inks (such as alcohol, ester-soluble inks), water-based inks, UV inks, soybean oil-based inks and other environmentally friendly inks, the environmental protection of inks is gradually deepening.

Color palette.

Ink color can be divided into basic color and spot color. We usually refer to black, sky blue, primary red, primary yellow, and white inks as basic color inks. Cyan, magenta, and yellow are called three primary color inks, and the three primary color inks can be superimposed on each other to present various color effects.

Spot color ink refers to some inks that are not superimposed by the three primary colors and are adjusted by ink matching.

To mix ink, choose a site with ventilation equipment to ensure that solvent and ink odors can be discharged; It should be equipped with explosion-proof lights and standard light sources; It should be equipped with a viscosity cup, a stopwatch, a balance (a scale), an ink scraper (color stick), an ink scraper, and a paper scraper.

Blends of different colors:

Yellow and magenta tones can be called up: medium yellow, orange, orange, bright red, etc.

Yellow and cyan can be dialed out: light green, green, dark green, etc.

Magenta and cyan blends can be dialed out: light purple, purple, dark purple.

Cyan, magenta, and yellow can be mixed in different proportions to bring out different hues:

Approximate black = cyan magenta, yellow.

Olive = cyan 50% + magenta 25% + yellow 25%.

Red purple = cyan 25%, magenta 50% + yellow 25%.

Bronze = cyan 25% + magenta 25% + yellow 50%.

Dark green = cyan 40%, magenta 20%, yellow 40%.

Brown = cyan 30% + magenta 20% yellow 70%.

Spot color pigments. Some colors do not have a unique spot color effect with three primary tones, and need to be produced with spot color pigments.

Golden Red: A thick, bright color from within. The use of red ink and yellow ink does not match the luster of gold and red.

Pink: Pink and bright with a bluish tint. It can't be tuned with blue and red ink.

Rose red: with pink and heavy and bright color, yellowish light, not toned with blue and red ink.

Qinglian color: with purple thick and bright color, it cannot be toned with blue and red ink.

Ultramarine: With a heavy and bright purple color, it can be adjusted with 70% blue and 30% blue lotus. It can't be tuned with blue and red ink.

Gold, silver: only use gold powder, silver powder to adjust the ink.

White: Produced with titanium dioxide, it plays a role in foreshadowing.

Ink mixing precautions.

The blending of ink is the first choice of the same system, the same manufacturer of ink for deployment, it is strictly forbidden to use different systems of ink blending. Different systems of inks will not react, which will lead to the scrapping of inks and prints.

The blending of ink must follow the principle of first analyzing the hue of the ink, then making a sample for color matching, and then scraping the sample and determining the ink ratio.

Adhere to the principle of proportional weighing to ensure accurate proportions. When using diluent, add a small amount and stir well to ensure accurate viscosity control.