Printing Inks

Rheology modifier and stabilizers that contribute to improved gloss and adhesion. There are various kinds of printing inks such as flexographic, inkjet, screen printing, etc. IFF Cellulosics and PEO act as a rheology modifier and stabilizer in both solvent systems and water based systems. They also contribute to improved gloss and adhesion. Each printing process requires an ink or a paste with a specific viscosity and drying behavior. According to their viscosity inks can be grouped by liquid inks and paste inks. In general printing inks and pastes are comprised of four components: Pigments, Resins, Solvents and Additives.

The resins act as binders, binding the other ingredients of the ink together so that it can form a film and bind the ink to the substrate (e.g. paper). The resins also contribute to gloss. Beside the use in the ink, polymers are also being used as wetting agents in the pigment grinding process to ensure readily dispersible pigments.