Printing Inks

Abstract

AbstractThe article contains sections titled:1.Introduction2.Typographic Printing2.1.Letterpress Printing2.1.1.Cylinder and Flatbed Printing2.1.2.Newspaper Letterpress Printing2.1.3.Indirect Letterpress and Dry Offset Printing2.2.Flexographic Printing2.2.1.Solvent‐Containing Flexographic Printing Inks2.2.2.Water‐Based Flexographic Systems2.2.3.UV‐Curing Flexographic Inks3.Planographic (Flatbed) Printing ‐ Offset Printing3.1.Sheet‐Fed Offset Printing3.1.1.Sheet‐Fed Metal Decoration Printing3.1.2.UV‐Curing Offset Inks3.2.Heatset Web Offset Printing3.3.Newspaper Offset Printing3.4.Fountain Solutions4.Gravure Printing4.1.Rotogravure4.1.1.Publication Gravure4.1.2.Packaging Gravure4.1.3.Special Gravure Inks4.2.Intaglio (Steel‐Plate Gravure)5.Screen Printing6.Multicolor Printing7.Properties and Testing of Printing Inks7.1.Fastness Properties7.2.Consistency8.Pigments8.1.Inorganic Pigments8.2.Organic Pigments8.3.Fillers and Extenders9.Economic AspectsPrinting inks for the graphics industry are preparations that are transferred to a substrate by means of a printing form. Printing can be either informative, as in texts, or decorative, as with ornaments or pictorial representations.Typographic printing includes the letterpress printing involving raised, hard printing elements and a paste printing ink, and flexographic printing with liquid, quickly drying inks. The offset printing is based on the mutual repulsion between water and fatty printing inks and allows even relatively rough materials to be printed. Other printing processes including gravure printing, screen printing, multicolor printing are described in detail.Pigments in the printing ink industry must fulfill several requirements concerning dispersibility, rheological properties, and transparency. The article gives a list of inorganic and organic pigments, as well as additives that are used in the printing ink technology. A survey of toxicity and economic aspects is also given.