Featured Products March 2011
Flexo Ink System
ProFector Plus is a water-based, flexographic ink system for narrow-web printers producing high-quality labels. ProFector Plus inks can be overprinted or laminated, and printed on coated paper and films such as PET, PE, BOPP, or vinyl for laser printer labels. The inks can be adapted for shrink wrap applications. The ProFector Plus label series is tailored for process and fine line screen-printing, on presses with an anilox of 360 to 1,200 lines per inch.—www.colorresolutions.com
High-Performance UV Flexo Inks
By eliminating the harmful ink components commonly found in most ink extraction and migration tests, ACTEGA WIT’s PharmaFlex Signature Series inks marry high performance with a safety-driven approach to packaging material targeted for consumer products. Signature Series UV inks for flexo printing, print with sharp, crisp edges on dots lines and heavy reverses. The inks can be pumped or used in enclosed doctor blade assemblies without leaking or adversely affecting the seals. The glossy surface of Signature UV flexo inks combined with a receptive chemistry makes these inks easy to overprint. Plus, they adhere to a wide range of films, papers, and board stocks.—www.actega.com/wit
Inks For Heat Shrink Labels
The AQUA HS ink system is ideal for reverse printing of heat shrink labels and adheres well on most PVC, PET-G, and OPS heat shrinkable films. This versatile ink system can be used for both flexographic and rotogravure printing methods. In the production of heat shrinkable labels, the AQUA HS ink system is durable and capable of delivering high impact graphics with maximum flexibility and scratch/scuff resistance to minimize scoring and scratching during sleeve formation and application.—www.envinks.com
Low Viscosity Ink
Flexocure FORCE offers overall easier use, increased productivity, and better runability due to its lower viscosity and no foaming. The ink system has excellent cure response and dot reproduction, along with minimal plate swell. Flexocure FORCE offers high color strength ideal for UV Flexo, taking vignette printing from a clean one percent dot up to 100 percent solid print with high color strength matching Pantone.—www.flintgroup.com
ECO-Solvent Inks
INX Digital has introduced EDX, a new line of eco-solvent inks that represents the first time INX Digital’s Triangle brand has offered a color and chemically compatible ECO product for the alternative market. With dual compatibility, users can perform cartridge-by-cartridge changeover without wasting ink. New color profiles are not required in order to obtain the same color as OEM inks when printing. Designed for Roland printers with Epson DX4 print head technology, EDX is a fast-drying ink with low odor and is HAPS- and TAPS-free.—www.INXdigital.com
Ink Formulation Software
X-Rite announced the availability of version 6 of its InkFormulation and ColorQuality software packages. Developed for ink manufacturers and printers that formulate their own inks, InkFormulation provides an accurate and consistent ink formulation, formula creation, storage, approval, and retrieval solution for offset, flexographic, gravure, and screen-printing inks. It can calculate the optimal recipe based on the printing process, ink, illumination, pigment pricing, and number of components and materials to be used. It also helps printers and ink suppliers speed up the ink formulation workflow process with reproducible results on a broad variety of substrates and ink film thicknesses.—www.xrite.com
Water-Based Shrink Film Ink
SunSpectro® Symphony is a water-based flexographic ink system that can provide excellent printing properties on high-speed presses, along with high color strength at low viscosity. These inks are formulated for printing on PVC, OET-G, and OPS shrink films and are suitable for surface or reverse printing on most hot-fill applications. In addition, they offer resistance to cracking when films are folded or creased.—www.sunchemical.com
Industrial Inkjet
Collins Ink supplies a wide range of industrial inkjet inks including water-, solvent-, oil-, and UV-based inks. Current products support HP, Dimatix, Kodak, Videojet, Atlantic Zeiser, Xaar, and more. Through partnerships with next-gen print technology manufacturers, Collins can to expand a variety of applications by customizing inks for the newest print heads.—www.collinsink.com
UV Flexo Ink
UVitec Printing Ink’s Flexographic Thermoforming UV ink system is available in opaque white, clear varnish and coatings, 4-color process, and spot colors. The product has been engineered to withstand the rigors of the thermal die stamping process, as well as subsequent lamination. The viscosity of this ink system allows it to work well on standard anilox and pumping equipment.—www.uvitec.com
Soy-Based Inks
Alden & Ott’s Soy-Flex printing inks run on flexo presses on all paper products including direct and indirect thermal stocks, top coated, and treated films and foils. The soy base is naturally produced and is a renewable resource. Soy-Flex inks offer clean printing, are 20 percent more degradable, and are readily recyclable.—www.aldenottink.com
Ink Pumps
Graymills Quick Change Single and Dual Head Peristaltic Ink Pumps are designed for fast turnaround jobs. These pumps allow operators to quickly change out pump heads and hoses without tools; changing jobs or colors is a simple as pulling a quick release pin and swapping the old head with a reserve preloaded head. Pump two colors to two different decks, pump same color to two different decks, or pump ink up and pull back down from a single deck. Features include lightweight splash-resistant design, variable speed, and forward/reverse.—www.graymills.com
Inks For Use in Flexible Packaging
Wikoff manufactures solvent- and water-based inks, along with energy-curable inks for use in a wide range of flexible packaging applications. These applications include: plastics, aluminum foils, metallized papers, and other paper types. Wikoff’s ink systems provide high color densities, improved mileage, and excellent transfer properties and are optimized for clean printing at high press speeds—www.wikoff.com
Water-Based Flexo Lamination Inks
AquaLiona flexible packaging inks from Toyo Ink International are designed to handle a wide range of water-based flexo lamination needs. The high-performance ink system is suitable for high-quality applications, up to and including retort. Features include: ability to print on wide range of substrates; excellent lamination qualities; use with boil and retort pouch applications with hardeners; high strength colors; and low solvent retention.—www.toyoink.com
Inkjet Printing Inks
The family of Squid Ink piezo inks are specially formulated for use in piezo printers manufactured by Squid Ink®, Fasco®, Imaje®, Domino®, Alpha-Dot®, HS-Automatic®, and other OEMs using the Xaar print engine. Benefits include: dark printing that facilitates bar code scanability; small character printing; and crisp, clean graphics. The inks are available in 500 ml bags or cartridges.—www.squidink.com
Water-Based Flexo Inks For Film Applications
NAZDAR’s W300 Series Water-Base Film Ink is specifically formulated to meet the demands of today’s narrow-web label converters. The W300 Series inks feature: high-speed printing; ease of use; high color strength; compatibility with water-based and UV coatings; and fast drying. They are available for use in 3 bcm, 4 bcm, and 5 bcm applications; process colors are available for 1.0 bcm to 2.0 bcm. The inks can be used with pressure-sensitive vinyl, top-coated and print-treated polyester, BOPP films, and coated paper and board.—www.nazdar.com
In-Line pH Sensor
Norcross created an in-line pH sensor that features a patented chamber design that prolongs probe life and efficiency for monitoring the pH of water-based inks and other solutions. The In-Line pH Sensor installs directly in a fluid line and incorporates a transmitter that converts its mV signal to 4-20 mA for transmission to a controller. Featuring a flat-tip probe with a glass insert, this sensor has an integral reservoir that traps fluid to keep the probe tip wet during job changes to prevent drying out.—www.viscosity.com
