The Development Prospects of Water-Based Inks

Water-based ink is a uniform paste-like substance composed of binders, pigments, additives and other substances. The binder provides the necessary transfer performance of the ink, and the pigment gives the ink its color.

With the provision of living standards, the continuous development and progress of society, people's awareness of environmental protection is increasing, and the demand for environmentally friendly printing materials is also increasing.

Correspondingly, various countries have also continuously introduced various policies to strengthen environmental protection control. At present, the printing industry mainly strengthens the control of emissions during the solvent ink printing process, with the goal of zero VOC emissions.

With the implementation of the national environmental protection policy, many factories have realized transformation. At present, my country has become the world's fourth largest ink producer. There are more than 400 companies in the country and more than 200 water-based ink manufacturers. The market share of water-based inks has exceeded 50%.

The distribution of the ink industry in my country is uneven, and the difference between the east and the west is very obvious. The main ink companies are mostly concentrated in southern China, mainly in Guangdong, by Shanghai and Tianjin.

The binder of water-based ink is mainly divided into two types: water dilution type and water dispersion type. There are many types of resins that can be used in the former, such as maleic acid resin, shellac, maleic acid resin modified shellac, urethane, water-soluble acrylic resin and water-based amino resin. The water-dispersible binder is obtained by polymerizing monomers emulsified in water. It is a two-phase system in which the oil phase is dispersed in the water phase in the form of particles. Although it cannot be dissolved by water, it can be diluted by water. It can be considered as an oil-in-water emulsion type.

As the domestic market's demand for offset printing inks, screen printing inks, flexographic inks, special inks and other products will show an upward trend, and with the strengthening of environmental protection awareness of people in our country, advanced alcohol-soluble and water-based inks and other environmentally friendly inks will show rapid growth. momentum

Water-soluble resin "Water-soluble resin or water-dispersible resin is the binder of water-based ink, which has a great influence on the viscosity, adhesion, gloss, drying and printing adaptability of the ink. Water-based ink is a water-based printing ink prepared by chemical process and physical mixing of water-based polymer emulsions, organic pigments, resins, surfactants and related additives. Because it uses water instead of traditional inks, it accounts for 30% to 70% The toxic organic solvents in the ink no longer contain volatile organic solvents, so there is no adverse effect on the health of workers during the printing process, and no pollution to the atmospheric environment. It also eliminates the hidden dangers of flammability and explosion in the workplace, and improves Security. At the same time, in comparison, the cost of using water-based inks is about 30% less than that of solvent-based inks. This unique advantage of ink and wash complies with increasingly stringent environmental protection regulations, and is increasingly favored by the packaging and printing industry around the world, and is gradually expanding to the newspaper printing industry.

The choice of water-soluble acrylic resin as the binder for water-based inks has significant advantages in terms of gloss, weather resistance, heat resistance, water resistance, chemical resistance, and pollution resistance. It can be used for direct dispersion and dissolution or synthesis of polymer emulsions. It can also show excellent performance. Using this resin to make ink, the product can reach the quality level of foreign advanced products. After using the water-soluble azo initiator as the main initiator of the acrylic resin, the performance of the acrylic resin has been significantly improved.

At present, water-based inks have been widely used in paper inks, carton inks, PET packaging film inks, etc. In the mid-term, carton inks have the largest share.

    The printing of packaging films such as PET is still in the development stage, and there is a problem of insufficient adhesion, which cannot meet the requirements of high-end customers. Once there is a breakthrough in technology in the future, it is expected to completely replace solvent-based inks.