Ink is properly prepared to easily solve the silk screen problem

Ink is properly prepared to easily solve the silk screen problem

Have you ever acted to print the ink taken out of the ink tank directly? Have you ever repeatedly wiped the ink accumulated on the silk screen? Have you ever applied inappropriate pressure on the squeegee? Experience? If you answered yes to these three questions, then you have committed three taboos in the screen printing process. If you can spend a little bit of thought on the preparation of ink, while using a re-tensionable screen, control the angle and speed of the doctor blade, you can easily avoid most of the problems encountered in the screen printing process.

Each of the problems mentioned above will directly affect the quality of printed matter, production efficiency and the credibility of printing enterprises. This article will discuss the formulation of ink in detail.

Almost all plastisol inks are concentrated when they leave the factory. Different manufacturers, colors and types have different degrees of concentration, and some are even super concentrated. Here we will focus on plastisol inks because most textile printing uses this ink. Simply put, the ink consists of three main components: PVC (polyvinyl chloride plastic), pigment (color), and plasticizer (or other additives).

1.PVC

PVC is an adhesive, which makes solid pigments adhere to the surface of textile materials after hot melting. It is a dispersion resin with extremely fine particles, a bit like white sugar. When it is mixed with plasticizers or other types of additives (except pigments), it becomes a liquid colorless and transparent substance, which can form a very thin film after coating. Stir it, you will find that it is easier to stir than the ink with Yanke, and it is easier to get rid of the doctor blade, the viscosity is very different, it is more suitable for printing and easier to print than ink with pigment .

2. Waste

The pigment produces color. It is ground into fine particles and mixed with PVC and other additives. Its mixing ratio with transparent PVC and other additives determines the transparent and opaque nature of the color. The pigment concentration of the screen printing ink is higher than that of the four-color printing ink. Even for the same type of ink, produced by different manufacturers, the pigment percentages are different and the viscosity is also the same, so their printability is suitable. There is a certain difference from the color density.

Here we make a simple experiment to compare: a printed product is printed with high saturation colors, such as blue or red, with ink taken directly from the container. In the other sheet, add the same amount of transparent additive to the same ink, stir and print evenly. You will find that for most types of inks, the colors of the two prints are the same, there is no big difference. The mixture of 50% pigment ink and 50% transparent additive can fully meet the needs of the job, and make the printing process easier and more cost-effective. Now conduct another experiment, this time adding two parts of clear additive to one part of the original ink. At this time, pigment and ink only accounted for 33% of the total. It can be found that the printability of this mixture has been further improved, and for the products of most manufacturers, the color is still acceptable. When configuring inks, you must test the inks of different manufacturers, their types and hue, because some inks will be lighter in color after being mixed with 50% additives, while some will not change.

3. Plasticizer

The additives and plasticizers used by manufacturers to formulate inks are the most important factors that cause the difference in ink quality. Among them, plasticizers are the most important ingredients, which are also called reducing agents in most cases.

Adding a small amount of reducing agent to the ink will reduce the viscosity of the ink to improve the printability of the ink. Usually in the four-color printing is not added reducing agent, and in the screen printing process, the formation of ink dots is determined by the size of the mesh on the screen. If the mesh leaves the surface of the substrate, the dots will be deformed and the printed image will be blurred.

The reducing agent in the container is as clear and transparent as water. If you scoop up a spoon, it will feel a bit like clear oil. When using it, strictly follow the manufacturer's instructions. If too much reducing agent is added, no matter how much desiccant you add, how slow the printing speed, and how long it takes to pass through the dryer, the ink is difficult to combine with textiles. So be careful when adding reducing agents.

The reducing agent produced by some companies is curable. It is a mixture of reducing agent and PVC and other additives in proportion, which can play the role of drying and curing. Proper use of reducing agent can bring benefits to the printing process, but in the actual production process, people often do not follow the manufacturer's instructions, abuse the amount of reducing agent, and evaluate whether it is suitable for application through vision and feeling. Of course, this approach is very harmful.

If the dosage is not appropriate, the printed image will either have a greasy feel or a faded feeling. In this case, users often complain that the quality of the product is not good, and neglect that they used the wrong dosage of additives when configuring the ink.

Sometimes people think that reducing agent and diluent are the same, this concept will lead to another misunderstanding.

The reducing agent is very different from the thinner. Only the reducing agent will reduce the viscosity of the ink, and the thinner will not affect the viscosity of the ink.

If you don't add reducing agent during printing, you will find that the printed product has obvious ink accumulation, and even orange peel phenomenon, the surface of the printed product is very uneven, and some small pits appear. And when the screen is lifted, some ink will be taken off from the printing material. For the same printing, just add an appropriate amount of reducing agent to the ink, and found that the phenomenon of ink accumulation is significantly reduced, and the ink will not stick when the screen is lifted.

Less pigment means less dryness and less ink accumulation, and the reducing agent can further improve the occurrence of ink accumulation.

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