The differences between UV ink, solvent ink and water based ink

HOME ꄲ The differences between UV ink, solvent ink and water based ink

There are many types of inkjet inks, and even solvent-based inks have dozens of subdivisions. According
to the nature of the ink, the ink can be classified into three types: UV ink, solvent ink, and water-based
ink.

1. UV ink

UV inks have a unique cure, ie fast cure without penetration and evaporation, and are now widely used
in inkjet printing. UV inks have three major characteristics: energy-saving drying, extensive printability to
substrates (almost on all materials), and fast cure to reduce subsequent process times.

However, the price of UV ink is higher than that of solvent-based ink, which is costly, which directly
affects the printing cost of UV printing equipment. As far as the market is concerned, in the field of inkjet
printing, it is mainly a wide-format graphics and image printing with a small number of copies. Because
the number of printed copies is small, the restrictions on ink and substrate are small, and the advantages
of UV ink printing can be exerted. The real advantage of UV inks is the ability to dry instantly under UV
light in long runs. Therefore, UV inks are likely to be the first choice in high speed inkjet printing,
especially when the inkjet process enters the field of lithography such as packaging printing. From the
perspective of environmental protection and the adaptability of substrates, UV ink will be the
mainstream of large-format color market in the future.

2. Solvent type ink

In the inkjet field, solvent-based inks can be adapted to a variety of substrates, and the substrates used
are relatively inexpensive. In particular, outdoor images have better durability, and their price is lower
than that of water-based inks, and it does not require film coating, which improves production efficiency.
Solvent-based inkjet printers have opened up billboards, body advertising and all areas where previous
printing was impossible.

However, the solvent ink has a disadvantage in that it discharges harmful substances into the air by
evaporation of the solvent during the drying process, affecting the indoor and outdoor air quality.
Although solvent-based inks dries faster than aqueous inks, they still take some time.

3. Water-based ink

Water-based ink mainly uses water as solvent, and has the advantages of stable ink color, high
brightness, strong tinting strength, strong adhesion after printing, adjustable drying speed and strong
water resistance. Compared with other inks, since the aqueous ink does not contain volatile toxic organic
solvents, it has no adverse effect on the health of the operator during the printing process, and has no
pollution to the atmospheric environment and the printed matter itself. Because the ink has the
characteristics of non-flammable, it can also eliminate the hidden dangers of flammable and explosive,
improve the printing working environment, and is conducive to safe production.
However, current water-based inks still have certain technical limitations, and their printing performance
and quality are not up to the standard of solvent-based inks. The water-based ink has the disadvantages
of being non-alkali resistant, not resistant to ethanol and water, slow drying, poor gloss, and easy
shrinkage of the paper. This is mainly due to the high surface tension of water, which makes the ink
difficult to wet and slow to dry.

Water-based inks are difficult to wet and print well on many substrates, unless the printing equipment is
equipped with sufficient drying equipment, so the printing speed will be affected. In addition, the gloss
of the ink is lower than that of the solvent type ink, which also greatly limits the use of the ink in the
case where the glossiness is high.

UV ink is more widely used

The UV flatbed printer widely used in the industry uses UV ink to print beautiful and realistic patterns on
the surface of different flat materials. The pigment particles in UV ink are less than 1 micron in diameter,
free of volatile organic solvents, ultra-low viscosity, no A pungent odour ensures that the ink is not
clogged in the jet printing process. UV ink is suitable for printing metal, glass, ceramic, PC, PVC, ABS and
other materials.

Compared with solvent inks, their respective application methods and application fields are determined
due to their inherent characteristics. Because UV ink can be used together with white ink, many
manufacturers can print some beautiful relief effects. This is to first use white ink to accumulate
embossed effect, and then print it again with color UV ink to achieve the relief effect. Since the weak
solvent cannot be mixed with the white ink, there is no way to print the relief effect.

In addition, since many materials of the solvent ink need to be coated during printing, the printed
product without coating treatment is easy to fade; and the UV ink can be directly used to print many
materials without any need to do anything. Coating treatment is simple, convenient and practical.