What is gravure ink?

Date: Oct 07 2024 From: Star Color

Gravure ink is a type of ink used in gravure printing. Gravure printing is a common printing method that is suitable for printing many different types of materials, such as paper, plastic film, metal foil, etc. As the core material of gravure printing, gravure ink has various unique advantages and characteristics.

Composition of gravure ink

Gravure ink is mainly composed of pigments, resins, additives, diluents, etc. Among them, pigments are the main source of ink color, and resin serves as a binder, carrying pigment particles and stably dispersing them in the ink system. Additives are used to adjust the fluidity, optical properties, and resistance of ink, while diluents are used to adjust the viscosity of ink to make it suitable for specific printing conditions.

Classification of gravure ink

Classified by plate making method

1. Photogravure ink
This ink is suitable for gravure printing made through photographic plate making technology. Photographic plate making technology uses optical principles to transfer the original image onto the printing plate, forming concave graphic and textual parts.
Photogravure ink has good printing adaptability and color reproducibility, and can print high-quality images.

2. Engraving gravure ink
This ink is suitable for intaglio printing made through engraving and plate making techniques. Carving plate making technology is the process of manually or mechanically carving graphic and textual parts onto a printing plate, creating concave graphic and textual sections.

Engraving gravure ink usually has a high viscosity to adapt to the printing characteristics of engraving gravure. It can print three-dimensional and convex graphics and text, suitable for printing high-end packaging and decorations.
Classified by Ink Characteristics

1. Water type gravure ink
Using water as the main solvent, it has good environmental friendliness, but its printing adaptability is relatively poor, requiring special printing equipment and processes.

2. Alcohol based gravure ink
Using alcohols as the main solvent, such as ethanol, isopropanol, etc., it has good printing adaptability and is suitable for printing on various materials.

3. Benzene type gravure ink
Using benzene as the main solvent, the printing effect is good, but the environmental friendliness is poor. In recent years, it has gradually been replaced by environmentally friendly inks.

4. gravure plastic film ink
Ink specifically designed for plastic film printing, with good adhesion and weather resistance.

5. gravure composite plastic ink
Suitable for printing composite packaging materials, such as paper plastic composites, aluminum-plastic composites, etc.

6. Paper gravure ink
O A gravure ink specifically designed for paper printing, with excellent printing effects and printability.

7. Film gravure ink
Gravure ink suitable for film printing typically requires high resolution and color reproducibility.
What is gravure ink?

Characteristics of gravure ink

As the core material in gravure printing technology, gravure ink has a series of unique characteristics that make it widely used and uniquely advantageous in the printing industry. The following is a detailed explanation of the characteristics of gravure ink:

1. High color reproduction and vividness
The color of gravure ink is bright and full, with high color reproduction. This is due to its fine pigment dispersion technology and high-quality binder formula. The pigment particles are uniformly dispersed in the ink, making the printed image colors more realistic and delicate, and accurately reproducing the color effect of the original manuscript.

2. Good printability
Gravure ink has good printing adaptability and can meet the printing requirements of various gravure printing machines. Its physical properties such as viscosity and fluidity are carefully adjusted to ensure that the ink can be evenly and stably transferred to the substrate during the printing process, ensuring the stability and consistency of printing quality.

3. High color concentration and coverage
The color concentration of gravure ink is high, and the pigment content is large, therefore it has excellent covering power. Even on thin printing substrates, it is easy to cover the base color and present a full and uniform printing effect.

4. Fast drying speed
The drying speed of gravure ink is relatively fast, which can quickly solidify in a short period of time and improve production efficiency. This is thanks to its special binder formula and drying mechanism, which allows the ink to quickly absorb heat and evaporate solvents during the printing process, thereby achieving rapid drying.

5. Good adhesion and resistance
Gravure ink has good adhesion with various substrates, and can firmly adhere to the surface of the substrate without easy detachment or cracking. Gravure printing ink also has excellent resistance, such as friction resistance, scratch resistance, water resistance, oil resistance, etc., which can ensure that printed materials maintain good appearance and performance during use.

6. Strong adaptability
Gravure ink can adapt to various types of substrates, such as paper, plastic film, metal foil, etc. This is thanks to its diverse binder formula and pigment selection, which allows the ink to be adjusted and optimized according to different substrate characteristics, ensuring the best printing effect.

7. Environmental friendliness
With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, gravure printing ink is gradually developing towards environmental protection. Many gravure inks have adopted low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) binders and pigments (such as water-based gravure inks) to reduce environmental pollution.

The development trend of gravure ink

With the continuous advancement of printing technology and the increasing demand for environmental protection, gravure printing ink is also constantly developing. Water based gravure ink, as a representative of environmentally friendly ink, although there are still some technical difficulties, has been tested on some special substrates. With the continuous maturity and cost reduction of water-based gravure ink technology, it is expected to replace traditional solvent based gravure ink and become the mainstream product in the gravure printing field.

Zhongzhixing color gravure water-based ink has various advantages, including high temperature resistance, sun resistance, low odor, low volatility, etc. It can withstand high temperatures up to 220 ℃ and is suitable for printing high-speed and high network cables, with excellent adaptability and coverage. The sun resistance of the ink reaches level 3-8, and the color can be customized according to Pantone color codes to meet various printing needs. At the same time, this ink is non-toxic and odorless, poses no harm to the human body, meets ROHS international environmental protection requirements, and is the preferred choice for environmentally friendly printing ink.