What kind of plastic gravure ink is good ink

The cost of plastic inks in terms of printing costs

At present, the grade requirements for the plastic color printing market are getting higher and higher, the prices are getting lower and lower, and the competition is becoming more and more intense. In this situation, each color printing manufacturer wants to reduce costs and maintain a reasonable profit, so it wants to buy cheap ink. This feeling is understandable and worthy of sympathy. However, ink is a confusing thing for laymen. How should we look at the quality and price of ink? What kind of ink is good gravure plastic ink? Today we will discuss this issue.

In order to reduce costs and improve quality, color printing factories want to buy cheap and good ink subjectively, but the standards are different. Some people say: Low prices are good inks, we say: Not necessarily; Some people say: A good hue is a good ink, we say: not necessarily; Some people say: high solid content is a good ink, we say: not necessarily. Why do you say this way? The low price does indeed attract and confuse some people. This is precisely the prominent feature of counterfeiting. Because the price of the raw material market is certain, if we want to reduce the cost of ink materials and not cut corners, how can the price be lower? Therefore, the printing cost of ink at a low price is not necessarily low. The hue is good, but it is just an external appearance of ink, because anyone who knows a bit of color-blocking knowledge (color science) knows that as long as there are red, yellow, and blue primary colors, what color should be matched up, and hue does not determine printing. The level of cost. The high solid content is not necessarily a good ink. A high solid content can only indicate that the ink is thick, and a filler of a few cents a kilogram can thicken the ink. Thick ink is not necessarily resistant to dilution. "National Ink Information Center" said: high concentration of low viscosity ink is a good ink.

Our conclusion is that only inks with high solid content (high coloring power, good adhesion), good hue, and fine particles are good inks. Because this kind of ink looks thin, it is actually resistant to dilution. In other words, this kind of ink can be diluted with more material because of its high active ingredient. One kilogram of ink may be 1.5 to 2 kilograms inferior in quality. On the surface, this kind of ink seems to be expensive, but accounting for the total cost of printing is cheaper than the low-priced inferior ink. What's more, this ink has good ink properties, ink is fine, there are bones, there is oiliness, and it does not precipitate. The printer is easy to use, and it is not prone to denaturation and brain problems.

High-quality ink can be thinner than inferior ink. What is the reason? This is determined by the tinting strength and adhesion of the ink. The amount of ink active ingredient determines the tinting strength and adhesion of the ink, determines the dilution of the ink, and determines how much thinner material is added. The amount of added thinner determines the size of the printed area. The size of the printing area determines the cost of printing. Therefore, with equal weight of ink, the more printing material the printing area increases, the lower the total printing cost of the ink, which is already a conclusion. The tinting power, adhesion and printing area of ​​the ink are proportional. There is a minimum allowable value for printing color strength and adhesion. This minimum allowable value determines how much thinner material is added. Dilution is not enough. Diluted over-exposed ink will not show color and brightness, and will inevitably cause poor color and poor adhesion. If the tinting strength and adhesion of the ink itself are already at a minimum, no thinner material can be added during printing. In this case, the ink price is also the printing cost price. Good quality ink is not enough for dilution. Insufficient dilution not only wastes ink, but the printing effect is also not good. If ink printing must always add thinner materials, it will inevitably increase the printing area, accordingly save ink, and use some thinner materials. We all know that the price of thinner materials is also much lower than the most expensive ink. If one kilogram of ink can add one kilogram of thinner, it means that the ink has become two kilograms, then the printing area will have to be doubled, and the price of ink will not come down yet? Is the total cost of printing not low? Therefore, the more dilute the material is, the cheaper the ink is, and the only ink that can add more dilute material is the good ink. According to this principle, in order to reduce the printing cost, the color printing factory must not only purchase ink with high coloring power and good adhesion, but also must require the printer to add appropriate amount of thinner material to the ink. The principle of adding thinners is to ensure that the inks have the minimum allowable coloring power and adhesion under the premise of ensuring the printing quality.

Ink fineness is also an important standard for good inks. The state specifies that the gravure ink should have a fineness of less than 25 microns. However, according to our detection of low-priced ink on the market, its fineness even reached 45-60 microns. Poor ink fineness, that is, thick ink, there are three drawbacks: First, thick ink, fine stripes, shallow print on the poor, rough, not realistic; Second, thick ink, not only easy to press the printer blade, but also to speed up The wear of the printing plate; Thirdly, as the printing volume increases, the groove of the printing plate must be more and more shallow. At this time, if the ink is thick and the ink is not printed at all, it must be re-plated. This means that the use of printing plates is reduced, the number of prints is reduced, and the plate-making cost is unnecessarily increased. According to our 18-year observation, fine-grained inks can save plate-making costs by 43% compared with fine-grained inks. What's more, most of the printing now uses electronic engraving, and platemaking costs are much more expensive than corrosion. Therefore, each color printing plant should account for its own situation. Is it a plate-saving fee or a waste of plate-making fee every year? What is the amount of each? If you understand this, you will know that you should buy low-quality, low-cost ink or buy genuine ink.

Discussing this, what kind of ink is really a good cheap ink? Of course, accurate conclusions can only be obtained after you personally test and test your own. The rules of market competition, as the old saying goes: The essence of buying does not sell. There is no doubt that selling cheaper money will make you even more expensive than expensive ones. Who else is willing to engage in counterfeiting? However, we firmly believe that: With the passage of time, with the deepening of competition, with the rich knowledge, with the improvement of the leadership level of the color printing plant, genuine ink is to replace the inferior low-cost ink after all! Honest, creditworthy, and quality-oriented companies will surely thrive and thrive!

Author: Zhang Baiji Source: Chinese green ink network