Printing is a sector, which seems bound to be sacrificed to the digital world, but in reality, there is an ever-expanding number of applications for printing services, which need the corresponding ink. Each type of printing ink has its own advantages and disadvantages, as well as different applications. The following article will give you a quick overview of all the different types, what they consist of, and what they are used for.
Definition: Printing ink
Printing ink comes in numerous forms, whether the base is water, alcohol, oil or plastic, using pigments or dyes, and be solid or liquid. Depending on the type of ink, different printers and procedures might be needed to use them properly.
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Solid inks
Solid inks are those, which are hard at room temperature.
| Solid ink | Solid ink is a waxy, resin-based polymer that is melted before usage. |
| Ribbon ink | Ribbon ink consists of an ink-soaked stripe from different materials, that is heated until liquid before used for printing. |
| Sublimation ink is heated so drastically that it turns immediately to gas without first liquefying, which allows the pigments to penetrate fabric deeply. |
Pigmented inks
Pigmented inks use tiny, solid particles of color, which are distributed as a suspension in the medium.
| Pigmented ink | Pigmented ink uses tiny, solid particles in a liquid or gas base, dispersed as a suspension, to spread onto the medium. |
| Water-based ink, also called aqueous ink, uses water as the base to carry the pigments. | |
| Latex ink | Latex ink is a special water-based ink with a high amount of water, where pigments are encapsuled in a polymer, which is heat activated for printing. |
| Oil-based ink | Oil-based ink suspends the pigments in an oil-based medium, which makes the print water-resistant and the colors more vibrant. |
| Solvent ink | Solvent ink uses alcohol as a base instead of water, making the print more permanent as the alcohol etches the pigments into the medium. |
| High-gloss ink | High-gloss inks contain varnish, which stays on the pigments after the ink dries, leaving a shiny finish. |
| Toner cartridge | Toner cartridge, also called laser toner, is a powder made from plastic particles or carbon mixed with the pigments. |
Special effect inks
Special effect inks can be glowing, invisible, metallic, reflective and other types of ink, which are not commonly used in printers.
| Glow-in-the-dark ink is phosphorescent, which means it absorbs light and re-emits it in the dark, letting it glow. | |
| Fluorescent ink | Fluorescent ink glows only in the light but not once the light is gone, as it just immediately re-emits UV light as rays withing the visible spectrum. |
| Invisible ink | Invisible ink cannot be seen until it is treated a certain way, for example by heat or liquids such as lemon juice. |
| Magnetic ink | Magnetic ink includes magnetic particles for magnetic ink character recognition (MICR), which is used especially in banking, for example on credit cards. |
| Reflective ink | Reflective ink uses tiny glass beads or reflective spheres to reflect light. |
| Metallic ink | Metallic ink contains actual metal flakes that form a layer as the ink dries and the base evaporates, leaving a continuous, metallic shine on the medium. |
Other inks
Other types of inks include dye ink, UV ink and other types that function differently than the ones before.
| Dye ink | Dye ink is made of a color substance that dissolves in a liquid, contrary to pigment inks. |
| UV ink | UV ink is a special type of printing ink, which is cured by UV light, staying as a long-lasting layer of vibrant color. |
| Plastisol ink | Plastisol ink is used for screen printing onto textiles; it contains the pigment, PVC, and a plasticizer medium, which is all cured with heat for a lasting effect. |
| Discharge ink is used for printing on dark fabrics, as it contains extra ingredients that remove color before adding the new pigments. |
Setting process
After printing, some inks require a special environment to set in order to stick properly to the medium.
Quick-setting inks are a mixture of solvent, resin, and oil, where the solvent is absorbed in the medium, and the oil and resin harden in oxidation and polymerization.
Heat-set inks use heat to evaporate the medium or solvent quickly as a drying process.
Cold-set inks have a resin-wax base, which is solid at room temperature before printing and return to that consistency afterwards.
Moisture-set inks are fixed by applying the ink onto a damp medium or by spraying water onto the print after applying the ink onto dry paper.
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FAQs
Printing ink is any kind of paint that transmits an image or text onto a medium through a printer or a printing process.
Generally, you can differ between solid inks and liquid inks depending on their aggregate phase at room temperature. Another way to set inks apart is whether they use pigments suspended in a base or dye, which gets completely dissolved.
The different setting processes include quick-setting, which happens when inks are made of a mixture of solvent, resin and oil, which chemically react with the medium for a faster drying process. Heat and cold-set inks set, as their name suggests, either by exposure to heat or to cold. The latter one is often used for solid inks, as they return to their solid state after cooling. The last process is moisture-setting, where a damp medium is needed for the ink to set.
