The Printing Ink Manual: 4th edition

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.

1 The Nature of Printing Inks.- 1.1 Visual characteristics of inks.- 1.2 The nature of printing inks as determined by the printing process.- 1.3 The drying characteristics.- 1.4 The adhesive nature of printing inks.- 1.5 The resistance properties of printing inks.- 2 The Printing Processes.- 2.1 The letterpress process.- 2.2 The offset lithographic process.- 2.3 The gravure process.- 2.4 The flexographic process.- 2.5 The screen printing process.- 2.6 Non-impact printing processes.- 2.7 Other printing processes.- 2.8 Print recognition.- 2.9 Substrate selection.- 2.10 The need for communication.- 3 Colour and Colour Matching.- 3.1 The physical nature of colour.- 3.2 The perception of colour.- 3.3 Additive and subtractive colour mixing.- 3.4 Origins of colour in printed material.- 3.5 Graphic reproduction.- 3.6 The measurement of colour.- 3.7 The recording of colour data and the specification of colour.- 3.8 Colour matching.- 3.9 Instrumental colour match prediction.- References.- 4 Raw Materials.- Section I Pigments.- 4.1 Yellow pigments.- 4.2 Orange pigments.- 4.3 Red pigments.- 4.4 Green pigments.- 4.5 Blue pigments.- 4.6 Violet pigments.- 4.7 Brown pigments.- 4.8 Black pigments.- 4.9 White pigments and extenders.- 4.10 Pearlescent materials.- 4.11 Metallic pigments.- 4.12 Fluorescent pigments.- 4.13 General properties of pigments.- Section II Dyestuffs.- 4.14 Acid dyes.- 4.15 Basic dyes.- 4.16 Solvent dyes.- 4.17 Disperse dyes.- Section III Oils.- 4.18 Drying vegetable oils.- 4.19 Other oils.- Section IV Resins.- 4.20 Natural resins.- 4.21 Synthetic resins.- Section V Solvents.- 4.22 Hydrocarbon solvents.- 4.23 Alcohols.- 4.24 Glycols.- 4.25 Ketones.- 4.26 Esters.- Section VI Plasticisers.- Section VII Waxes.- 4.27 Synthetic waxes.- 4.28 Petroleum waxes.- 4.29 Natural waxes.- Section VIII Driers.- 4.30 Liquid driers.- 4.31 Paste driers.- Section IX Miscellaneous additives.- 4.32 Chelating agents.- 4.33 Antioxidants.- 4.34 Surfactants.- 4.35 Deodorants and reodorants.- 4.36 Pure chemicals.- 4.37 Defoaming agents.- 4.38 Laking agents.- Section X Raw materials for radiation curing systems.- 4.39 Pigment selection.- 4.40 Prepolymers.- 4.41 Reactive diluents.- 4.42 Photoinitiators.- 4.43 Additives and inhibitors.- Section XI Health and safety at work.- References.- 5 Letterpress Inks.- 5.1 Nature of the process.- 5.2 General characteristics of letterpress inks.- 5.3 Physical properties.- 5.4 Raw materials.- 5.5 Letterpress ink formulation.- 5.6 Ink-related problems and their possible solutions.- 5.7 New developments.- 6 Lithographic Inks.- 6.1 General characteristics of litho inks.- 6.2 Drying mechanisms.- 6.3 Physical properties.- 6.4 Formulating principles.- 6.5 Typical inks and varnishes.- 6.6 Ink-related problems and their possible solutions.- 6.7 Recent and future trends.- 7 Gravure Inks.- 7.1 General characteristics.- 7.2 Physical properties of inks and their measurement.- 7.3 Formulating principles.- 7.4 Inks and varnishes for specific end-use applications.- 7.5 Printing ink faults.- 7.6 Future developments.- 8 Flexographic Inks.- 8.1 General characteristics of the inks.- 8.2 Physical properties of flexographic inks and their measurement.- 8.3 Formulating principles.- 8.4 Inks and varnishes for special purposes.- 8.5 Ink-related printing problems and possible solutions.- 8.6 Recent and future trends.- 9 Screen Inks.- 9.1 Important characteristics of screen inks.- 9.2 Requirements of raw materials.- 9.3 Inks for paper and board.- 9.4 Inks for impervious surfaces.- 9.5 Inks for plastic containers.- 9.6 Textile inks.- 9.7 Transfer inks.- 9.8 Overprint varnishes.- 9.9 Daylight fluorescent inks.- 9.10 Process inks.- 9.11 Metallics.- 9.12 Ink-related printing problems.- 9.13 Recent and future trends.- 10 Radiation Curable Systems.- 10.1 Electromagnetic radiation and electron beams.- 10.2 Microwave and radio frequency drying.- 10.3 Infra-red curing systems.- 10.4 Ultraviolet and electron beam curable inks and varnishes.- 10.5 Radiation curing equipment.- 10.6 State of the art and future trends.- Further reading.- 11 Inks for Special Purposes.- 11.1 Non-impact printing.- 11.2 Speciality screen inks.- 11.3 Inks for the electronics industry.- 11.4 Inks for laminated plastics.- 11.5 Inks for wallcoverings.- 11.6 Textile transfer inks.- 11.7 Sterilisation inks.- 11.8 Metal decorating.- 11.9 Letterset printing.- 12 Manufacture of Inks and Varnishes.- 12.1 General requirements.- 12.2 The manufacturing processes.- 12.3 Mixing equipment.- 12.4 Milling equipment.- 12.5 Handling, storage and manufacture of UV inks.- 12.6 Manufacture of newspaper inks.- 12.7 Handling and storage of inks.- 12.8 Modern production trends.- 12.9 The future.- 13 Rheology of Printing Inks.- 13.1 Flow in ideal systems.- 13.2 Deviations from Newtonian behaviour.- 13.3 Apparatus for the measurement of the viscosity of Newtonian liquids.- 13.4 Practical measurements for non-Newtonian systems.- 13.5 Tack.- 13.6 Tack measurement.- 13.7 Ink distribution and related matters.- 13.8 Rheological measurements and machine design.- References.- 14 Testing, Control and Analysis.- 14.1 Standard tests.- 14.2 Sampling technique.- 14.3 Pigment testing.- 14.4 Chips and pre-dispersions.- 14.5 Dye testing.- 14.6 Resins.- 14.7 Varnishes and oils.- 14.8 Solvents.- 14.9 Radiation curing products.- 14.10 Miscellaneous materials.- 14.11 Ink quality control.- 14.12 Short-term ink testing.- 14.13 Long-term ink testing.- 14.14 Press performance tests.- 14.15 Dry print performance tests.- 14.16 Analysis of printing inks.- References.- Further reading.- 15 Health, Safety and the Environment.- 15.1 Handling of dangerous substances in the manufacture of printing inks.- 15.2 Mechanical and operational aspects.- 15.3 Specific printing ink applications.- 15.4 Some international constraints.- Glossary of abbreviations.- References.