Screen printing ink

         The ink used for screen printing is called screen printing ink. Screen printing ink should be selected according to the material of the product. Screen printing ink is composed of pigment, binder, additive and solvent. Pigment determines the color, binder plays a bonding role, allowing the pigment to adhere to the surface of the printed material, additives can improve the performance of the ink, such as drying speed, etc. Solvents are mainly used to adjust the viscosity of the ink.

Classification by drying method
• Volatile drying ink: Drying is achieved by solvent evaporation. This type of ink dries relatively quickly. After printing, the solvent evaporates quickly, causing the ink to solidify on the surface of the substrate. It is often used for printing on materials such as paper and plastic film.
• Oxidative polymerization ink: The drying process depends on the oxidative polymerization reaction between the ink and oxygen in the air. It dries slightly slower, but the ink film formed after drying is tough, and it is more commonly used when printing on the surface of hard materials such as metals.
• Two-component reactive ink: It consists of two components, which undergo a chemical reaction after mixing and dry and solidify. This type of ink has excellent performance after curing, such as in the printing of some industrial products with high requirements for hardness and wear resistance.
All three inks mentioned above can be dried naturally or used in conjunction with an IR tunnel oven to improve drying efficiency.
• UV curing ink (UV ink): Under ultraviolet light, the photoinitiator in the ink initiates a polymerization reaction and cures instantly. It has the advantages of extremely fast curing speed and good environmental performance, and is widely used in printing electronic product housings, high-end packaging, etc.
UV ink should be used with a UV curing machine, flat products with a flat UV curing machine, and cylindrical products with a curved UV curing machine.

Classification by product material
• Fabric ink: used for printing on various fabrics, such as clothing, home textiles, etc. This ink needs to have good flexibility and friction resistance to adapt to the stretching of the fabric and friction in daily use.
• Plastic ink: developed for different plastic materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyester (PET), ABS, PC, PP, etc., can firmly adhere to the plastic surface to ensure the clarity and durability of the printed pattern.
• Metal ink: used for printing on metal surfaces, can provide good adhesion, while having corrosion resistance and metallic luster, used for decoration and identification of metal products, etc.
• Glass and ceramic ink: Printing on glass and ceramic materials requires special processes such as high-temperature firing to firmly bond the ink to the substrate. It is often used for the decoration of glass products and the painting of ceramics.
• Paper ink: Mainly used for paper printing, including ordinary paper, cardboard, corrugated paper, etc. Inks with different properties can be designed according to the different uses of paper, such as book printing, packaging printing, etc.
Different product materials have different properties of inks, and their drying methods are also different. Different drying methods require different post-printing equipment to cooperate.