The Printing Ink Manual

888 Pages·1988·28.323 MB·English

by  Dr C. Armstrong (auth.), Dr R. H. Leach, Dr C. Armstrong, Mr J. F. Brown, Mr M. J. Mackenzie, Mr L. Randall, Dr H. G. Smith (eds.)

The
Printing
Ink Manual
The
Printing
Ink Manual
FOURTH EDITION
Edited by
Dr R. H. Leach, Dr C. Armstrong, J. F. Brown,
M. J. Mackenzie, 1. Randall and Dr H. G. Smith
BLUEPRINT
in association with
An Imprint of Chapman & Hall
Published by Blueprint, an imprint of Chapman & Hall,
2-6 Boundary Row, London SEt BHN.
Chapman & Hall, 2-6 Boundary Row, London SEI 8HN, UK
Van Nostrand Reinhold Inc., 115 5th Avenue, New York NY10003, USA
Chapman & Hall Japan, Thomson Publishing Japan, Hirakawacho
Nemoto Building, 7F, 1-7-11 Hirakawa-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102,
Japan
Chapman & Hall Australia, Thomas Nelson Australia, 102 Dodds Street,
South Melbourne, Victoria 3205, Australia
Chapman & Hall India, R. Seshadri, 32 Second Main Road, CIT East,
Madras 600 035, India
First edition 1961
Reprinted 1963 (with revisions)
Second edition 1969
Third edition 1979
Reprinted 1984
Fourth edition 1988
Reprinted 1988, 1989, 1991
© 1961,1969,1979,1988 - Society of British Printing Ink
Manufacturers Ltd
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988
Typeset in Meridien by Best-set Typesetter Ltd, Hong Kong
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-6908-0 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-6906-6
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-6906-6
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,
or criticism or review, as permitted under the UK Copyright Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, this publication may not be reproduced, stored, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in
writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction only
in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency in the UK, or in accordance with the terms of licences
issued by the appropriate Reproduction Rights Organization outside the
UK. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the terms stated here
should be sent to the publishers at the London address printed on this
page.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard
to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot
accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that
maybe made.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Contents
Preface
xi
The Editors and Authors
XIII
I The Nature of Printing Inks
c.
Armstrong, Coates Brothers Inks Ltd
1.1 Visual characteristics of inks
1.2 The nat ure of printing inks as determined by the
printing process 3
1.3 The drying characteristic<; 5
1.4 The adhesive nature of printing inks 6
1.5 The resistance properties of printing inks 7
2 The Printing Processes 10
B. Blunden and J. Birkenshaw, PIRA
2.1 The letterpress process II
2.2 The offset lithographic process 20
2.3 The gravure process 35
2.4 The f1exographic process 44
2.5 The screen printing proce.ss 50
2.6 Non-impact printing processes 54
2.7 Other printing processes 59
2.8 Print recognition 60
2.9 Substrate selection 65
2.10 The need for communication 67
3 Colour and Colour Matching 69
J. Brown, Mander-Kidd (UK) Ltd
3.1 The physical nature of colour 69
3.2 The perception of colour 72
3.3 Additive and subtractive colour mixing 78
3.4 Origins of colour in printed material 84
3.5 Graphic reproduction 86
3.6 The measurement of colour 88
3.7 The recording of colour data and the specification
of colour 94
vi
CONTENTS
3.8 Colour matching 98
3.9 Instrumental colour match prediction 102
References 107
4 Raw Materials 109
M. Clayton, Ault & Wiborg General Printing Inks
Section I Pigments 110
4.1 Yellow pigments III
4.2 Orange pigments 117
4.3 Red pigments 120
4.4 Green pigments 139
4.5 Blue pigments 142
4.6 Violet pigments 149
4.7 Brown pigments 152
4.8 Black pigments 154
4.9 White pigments and extenders 156
4.10 Pearle scent materials 161
4.11 Metallic pigments 161
4.12 Fluorescent pigments 162
4.13 General properties of pigments 163
Section II Dyestuffs 172
4.14 Acid dyes 172
4.15 Basic dyes 174
4.16 Solvent dyes 178
4.17 Disperse dyes 180
Section III Oils 183
4.18 Drying vegetable oils 183
4.19 Other oils 188
Section IV Resins 192
4.20 Natural resins 193
4.21 Synthetic resins 199
Section V Solvents 225
4.22 Hydrocarbon solvents 228
4.23 Alcohols 231
4.24 Glycols 232
4.25 Ketones 234
4.26 Esters 235
Section VI Plasticisers 244
Section VII Waxes 249
4.27 Synthetic waxes 250
4.28 Petroleum waxes 253
4.29 Natural waxes 255
Section VIII Driers 258
4.30 Liquid driers 258
4.31 Paste driers 260
CONTENTS vii
Section IX Miscellaneous additives 260
4.32 Chelating agents 260
4.33 Antioxidants 261
4.34 Surfactants 262
4.35 Deodorants and reodorants 264
4.36 Pure chemicals 265
4.37 Defoaming agents 269
4.38 Laking agents 270
Section X Raw materials for radiation curing systems 27 J
4.39 Pigment selection 271
4.40 Prepolymers 272
4.41 Reactive dil L1ents 27 4
4.42 Photoinitiators 274
4.43 Additives and inhibitors 275
Section XI Health and safety at work 280
References 28J
5 Letterpress Inks 282
c. B. Burdall, Usher-Walker pic
5.1 Nature of the process 282
5.2 General characteristics of letterpress inks 284
5.3 Physical properties 286
5.4 Raw materials 289
5.5 Letterpress ink formulation 294
5.6 Ink-related problems and their possible solutions 302
5.7 New developments304
6 Lithographic Inks
308
P. Ford and R. .J. Tuft, Coates Brothers Inks Ud
6.1 General characteristics of litho inks 312
6.2 Drying mechanisms) I')
6.3 Physical properties 321
6.4 Formulating principles 328
6.5 Typical inks and varnishes 343
6.6 Ink-related problems and their possible solutions 352
6.7 Recent and fu ture trends 361
7 Gravure Inks 368
E. Cawkill and B. Ellison, BASF Coatings + Inks Ltd
7.1 General characteristics 36<)
7.2 Physical properties of inks and their measurement 376
7.3 Form ulating principles 382
7.4 Inks and varnishes for specific end-L1sc
applications 393
7.5 Printing ink faults 426
7.6 Future developments 429
viii
CONTENTS
8 Flexographic Inks 435
F. C. Wyatt, Lorilleux & Bolton Ltd
8.1 General characteristics of the inks 437
8.2 Physical properties of flexographic inks and
their measurement 442
8.3 Formulating principles 447
8.4 Inks and varnishes for special purposes 456
8.5 Ink-related printing problems and possible solutions 476
8.6 Recent and future trends 478
9 Screen Inks 481
J. Joannou, Coates Brothers Inks Ltd
9.1 Important characteristics of screen inks 481
9.2 Requirements of raw materials 487
9.3 Inks for paper and board 490
9.4 Inks for impervious surfaces 493
9.5 Inks for plastic containers 499
9.6 Textile inks 502
9.7 Transfer inks 504
9.8 Overprint varnishes 505
9.9 Daylight fluorescent inks 506
9.10 Process inks 507
9.11 Metallics 509
9.12 Ink-related printing problems 510
9.13 Recent and future trends 513
10 Radiation Curable Systems 51 s,
R. Holman, BASF Coatings + Inks Ltd
10.1 Electromagnetic radiation and electron beams 517
10.2 Microwave and radio frequency drying 521
10.3 Infra-red curing systems 522
10.4 Ultraviolet and electron beam curable inks and
varnishes 525
10.5 Radiation curing equipment 552
10.6 State of the art and future trends 560
Further reading 561
11 Inks for Special Purposes 562
R. Marsh, Coates Brothers Inks Ltd
ILl Non-impact printing 562
11.2 Speciality screen inks 571
11.3 Inks for the electronics industry 573
11.4 Inks for laminated plastics 578
11.5 Inks for wallcoverings 578
11.6 Textile transfer inks 580
11.7 Sterilisation inks 582
ix
CONTENTS
11.8 Metal decorating 585
II. 9 Letterset printing 588
12 Manufacture of Inks and Varnishes 592
M. 1. Heath, Lorilleux & Bolton Ltd, and A. J. Wild.
Usher-Walker pIc
12.1 General requirements 592
12.2 The manufacturing processes '>93
12.3 Mixing equipment 616
12.4 Milling equipment 624
12.5 Handling, storage and manufacture of UV inks 644
12.6 Manufacture of newspaper inks 645
12.7 Handling and storage of inks 648
12.8 Modern production trends 655
12.9 The future 660
13 Rheology of Printing Inks 666
A. Tabbernor, Mander-Kidd (UK) Ltd
13. I Flow in ideal systems 667
13.2 Deviations from Newtonian behaviour 668
13.3 Apparatus for the measurement of the viscosity
of Newtonian liquids 675
13.4 Practical measurements for non-Newtonian
systems 678
13.5 Tack 685
13.6 Tack measurement 686
13.7 Ink distribution and related matters 689
13.8 Rheological measurements and machine design 694
References 696
14 Testing, Control and Analysis 699
E. Cawkill, BASF Coatings + Inks Ltd and
D. Easterly, Coates Brothers Inks Ltd
14.1 Standard tests 700
14.2 Sampling technique 700
14.3 Pigment testing 701
14.4 Chips and pre-dispersions 710
14.5 Dye testing 710
14.6 Resins 711
14.7 Varnishes and oils 714
14.8 Solvents 720
14.9 Radiation curing products 724
14.10 Miscellaneous materials 726
14.11 Ink quality control 726
14.12 Short-term ink testing 727
14.13 Long-term ink testing 731
14.14 Press performance tests 735
x
CONTENTS
14.15 Dry print performance tests 740
14.16 Analysis of printing inks 751
References 779
Further reading 779
15 Health, Safety and the Environment 780
G. 1. May and 1. Orpwood, Coates Brothers Inks Ltd
15.1 Handling of dangerous substances in the
manufacture of printing inks 785
15.2 Mechanical and operational aspects 809
15.3 Specific printing ink applications 820
15.4 Some international constraints 826
Glossary of abbreviations 831
References 832
Index 839
Preface
The Printing Ink Manual was first published in 1961 under the auspices
of the Society of British Printing Ink Manufacturers with the object of
providing an authoritative work on printing ink technology. This, the
fourth edition, continues that purpose and presents a comprehensive
study of the current 'state of the art' in the ink industry. For those starting
in the printing ink industry it is a textbook dealing with all aspects of the
formulation and manufacture of printing ink. For the ink technician it is a
practical manual and useful source of reference. For printers and users of
printed material the manual supplies helpful information on the nature
and behaviour of ink both on the printing press and as the finished print.
Readers with a little scientific knowledge will have no difficulty in using
the manual, but as in previous editions, sufficient chemistry and physics
have been introduced to assist the advanced technician and research
scientist.
In the eight years since the last edition very substantial changes have
taken place in ink technology, and accordingly the book has been entirely
rewritten by a new panel of authors all of whom arc currently engaged in
the printing ink or associated industries. While retaining the general
structure of previous editions, the chapters have been arranged in a more
logical order. Those dealing with ink formulation reflect the considerable
changes that have taken place in the printing industry; letterpress inb
have largely been superseded by lithographic inks for both packaging
printing and newspaper production, and gravure and ilexographic inks
are now applied to a much greater variety of substrates for packaging.
Developments in manufacturing methods have also been substantial.
Both milling and mixing techniques have benefited by new designs in
machinery and the introduction of electronic and computerised controls.
Two important chapters have been added to this edition of the manual,
one dealing with Radiation Curable Systems, the other with Health,
Safety and Environment. Radiation curable systems have now become
widely used for drying printing inks and are based on quite different ink
technology. This technology is explained in depth together with details ot
the special raw materials required. Matters of health and safety at work
and environmental pollution have assumed great importance since the
last edition of the manual. Therefore a chapter has been included which