Environmental Impact Factors of Label Printing

Dec 08, 2021
The impact of the printing workshop environment on ink performance and printing quality is mainly reflected in the following two aspects:
(1) Ink viscosity and dryness are more sensitive to ambient temperature. As the temperature increases, the ink viscosity decreases and the drying speed becomes faster; on the contrary, the ink viscosity increases and the drying speed becomes slower. In addition, environmental humidity also affects the dryness of the ink. Too high humidity in the workshop is not conducive to the drying of the ink; if the workshop is too dry, it is easy to cause printing failures due to static electricity.
(2) The sanitary condition of the printing workshop is also very important. Therefore, the printing workshop must be kept clean, dust-free, and well ventilated.
In the printing process, problems such as poor ink adhesion, poor ink dryness, ink layer adhesion, bubbles, paste, dry plate, poor ink transfer, color shift, etc. are often encountered. The analysis of these failures is as follows:
(1) The ink adhesion fastness is poor. Reasons: the surface tension of the printing material is too low, the ink does not match the type of the printing material, and the ink performance is poor. Solution: Perform surface treatment on the printing material, add a wetting agent to reduce ink tension, and replace the ink.
(2) The ink has poor drying properties. Reasons: improper ink-solvent ratio, too fast printing speed, high environmental humidity, etc. Solution: adjust the solvent ratio, appropriately reduce the printing speed, increase the drying temperature, reduce the environmental humidity, etc.
(3) Ink layer adhesion. Reasons: poor drying of ink, too soft ink, excessive printing pressure, high environmental humidity, etc. Solution: adjust the ink solvent ratio, add an appropriate amount of anti-sticking agent, increase the drying temperature, reduce the printing pressure, reduce the environmental humidity, etc.
(4) Bubbles. Reason: the ink contains air, the surface tension of the ink is too large, the ink viscosity is too low, the printing speed is too fast, etc. Solution: add an appropriate amount of defoamer, adjust the ink viscosity, and appropriately reduce the printing speed.
Label printing
(5) Paste version. Reasons: the ink pigment particles are too coarse, the ink viscosity is too high, the ink volume is too large, the printing pressure is too high, etc. Solution: Replace the ink, appropriately reduce the viscosity of the ink, reduce the amount of ink, and reduce the printing pressure.
(6) Dry version. Reasons: the ink drying speed is too fast, the drying temperature is too high, the printing speed is too slow, etc. Solution: adjust the ink solvent ratio, appropriately reduce the drying temperature, and increase the printing speed.
(7) Poor ink transfer. Reason: the ink does not match the type of the printing material, the ink viscosity is too high, there is static electricity, etc. Solution: replace the ink, adjust the viscosity of the ink, and add an antistatic agent.
(8) Color cast. Reasons: deviation of ink hue, improper ink drying speed, poor ink stability, performance of printing materials, changes in printing process, etc. Solution: replace the ink, adjust the solvent ratio, adjust the printing process parameters, etc.
(9) Static electricity. Reasons: the ink is too thin, the printing speed is too fast, the environment is too dry, etc. Solution: add antistatic agent, increase ink viscosity, appropriately reduce printing speed, adjust environmental humidity, etc.