Water-based ink gravure printing process

At present, the domestic plastic gravure inks are mainly solvent-based inks, mainly chlorinated polypropylene inks. With toluene and other solvents, it accounts for almost 50% of gravure ink components. High volatile solvents contain aromatic hydrocarbons, which are toxic and flammable. Excessive benzene poses a great harm to the human body, and the high speed of gravure printing requires the use of highly volatile inks to meet the printing requirements, making gravure printing a particularly prominent environmental issue in all printing processes. Alcohol-soluble plastic gravure ink has low odor, benzene-free characteristics, which can effectively reduce the impact of residual solvents on the quality of packaged food, is now gradually being promoted, but with the gravure printing machine with the performance and print quality still need to be improved. Water-based gravure inks for plastic films have only just begun to be used. It is an environmentally friendly liquid ink made from water as a solvent. It has the characteristics of non-flammable, non-explosive, non-toxic, non-irritating, stable ink, bright color, high gloss, non-corrosive printing plate, easy operation, low printing cost, good post-print adhesion, strong water resistance, and rapid drying. The products printed with water-based inks are completely non-toxic, and the production environment is environmentally friendly. The biggest feature is the reduction of the emission of organic volatile substances voc into the atmosphere. Water-based inks are the only non-toxic inks approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Association.

Water-based inks, because they do not contain volatile organic solvents, improve the working environment, completely eliminate the toxic and harmful substances in solvent-based inks, and eliminate the contamination of packaged goods. It is mainly used for rotogravure printing machine in PE, PP, PET, PVC and other film printed food bags, fresh milk packaging bags, medicine packaging bags, candy bags, beverage bags, toy packaging bags, etc. . Adapt to print speed 20-100 meters / min.

According to relevant reports, the National Certification and Accreditation Regulatory Commission will place food packaging/container products under the category of compulsory certification (hereinafter referred to as “3C certification”), and will be implemented from the second quarter of this year. At present, it has begun to accept applications from companies. Starting from 2006, the product certification control system (3C certification) will be enforced and must meet the hygienic standards for composite food packaging bags. Only plastic food packaging products that meet the 3C certification standard can be listed. This standard is aimed at all food packaging companies, including plastic products, paper products, composite packaging products, and glass ceramics. This standard requires that companies manufacturing food packaging materials must implement this mandatory standard from the procurement of raw materials to the production process, to the production, the safety of the human body during the use of the products, and the safety of the waste after use to the environment. This is a great challenge and a great opportunity for color printing and packaging companies and ink production companies.

Ink ink applications are mainly based on flexographic printing and gravure printing. The inks widely used in foreign countries have good environmental protection performance and good ink performance. They are mainly characterized by: stable ink, high brightness, strong coloring power, high attachment fastness, and drying speed that can meet the needs of printing speed. Four-color overprinting and spot colors Printing can be. Water-based gravure printing inks have been widely used in the printing of papers such as packaging papers, paper boxes, etc. This is due to the better evaporation and drying of the paper products and absorption and drying. The use of water-based inks in flexographic printing is also rapidly growing in China, and the proportion of inks in flexo presses is increasing. However, the use of water-based gravure inks for plastic film printing is still in its infancy. This is mainly due to the fact that water-based inks cannot completely achieve the performance of solvent-based inks in gravure printing because of their adhesion, printing speed, and gloss. The WE-type gravure water-based ink has enabled new products in the field of plastic film gravure printing that can completely meet the required standards.