With presses getting faster, ink manufacturers are having to develop products that won't migrate or mist at high speeds. "The major developments have focused on low-odour, low-migration inks for conventional sheetfed and UV sheetfed inks," says Jüergen Riedlinger, sheetfed product management director for Flint Group. He adds that the drive towards IPA-free printing continues as printers look for inks with greener credentials.
"There is still a trend towards products that are based on renewable raw materials and, as a result, technology is now mainly focusing on bio inks," he says. Vegetable-based inks are gaining in popularity, with the number of bio inks in the Buyers' Guide tables up from last year.
Financial concerns
While being greener is important, the overall cost and efficiency of the ink is also an important consideration for an industry in the grip of a recession. As a result, standard products are covering a wide array of applications and, according to technical sales and support manager for Heidelberg's consumables division Claire Ashby, this has made the whole print process far more cost-effective.
"Customers are looking at the cost of the entire process, rather than the cost of the individual consumables," she explains. "For example, they will look into whether time can be saved by using a higher pigmented ink and whether it can give an improved press mileage, as well as faster setting and drying times."
Both Riedlinger and Ashby believe that printers are starting to embrace the benefits of buying consumables as a bundle because it guarantees good interaction with other products in the pressroom.
However, for sectors such as food packaging, there is a need to obey the stringent rules relating to the transfer from the substrate to the food. It is a potential minefield for printers.
"Low-migration inks, such as UV and conventional oil-based products, have been a hot topic this year after issues surrounding several photoinitiators," says Ashby. Photoinitiators are used in UV curable inks to start the curing reaction and are responsible for the production of free radicals. The vapours of some photoinitiators can be a skin and respiratory irritant.
Colour consistency is another issue, with ISO 2846-1 standard on most inks in the market. But to get this spot on, printers need to understand the process and controls that are needed.
WHAT'S NEW IN SHEETFED OFFSET & SCREEN PROCESS INKS
• Inks and Printing Technologies has taken over the running of Van Son Ink’s sheetfed business
• Sun Chemical has introduced global brand names SunLit and SunPak to describe its sheetfed conventional inks for commercial and packaging printing. In addition, it has launched the SunTec brand for plastics printing
• In September, Ultrachem took its range of UV inks to the Print 09 event in Chicago. It was the first time the UK supplier of pre-press and pressroom consumables had exhibited at the show
• In April, ink supplier Druckfarben bought the business and selected assets of Shackell Edwards, after the UK ink manufacturer fell into administration. Administrator Begbies Traynor was appointed in March with Poole-based Druckfarben emerging as the buyer
