As early as 1979, the United States proposed the idea of ​​developing a new type of ink to replace oil-based press inks used in newspaper printing. In order to find a suitable substitute for raw materials, the researchers of the National Press Institute selected more than 2,000 kinds of vegetable oils and selected non-toxic soybean oils that are widely used in the production of edible oils. SUN CHEMICAL Ink Company first produced news inks based on soybean oil. In 1987, it carried out newsprint printing tests. Since then, soybean oil inks have been used in the printing industry. Initially, only six newspapers were used. Soybean oil inks (mainly color inks) have now become popular. Compared with oil-based inks, colored soybean oil inks for newsprint are not only cheap, but also have bright colors and environmental protection advantages. At present, of the more than 10,000 newspapers in the United States, about one-third of newspapers use soy oil ink to print; more than 90% of more than 1,500 journals use soybean oil ink for printing.
Soybean oil ink composition
With the popularity of soybean oil ink in the newspaper printing industry, more and more customers require ink manufacturers to provide other inks using soybean oil as raw materials, including sheet-fed offset inks, thermoset rotary inks, cold-solid rotary inks, Commercial form inks and flexo inks. However, because 100% use of vegetable oil solvents will affect the drying speed of the ink, in the actual production of soybean oil offset inks, VOC (volatile organic compound) components still account for 20% to 40%, and common soybean oil inks also account for 15%. ~20% content. For this reason, the American Soybean Association (ASA) stipulates that the soybean oil composition in ink must meet the following standards:
Web Offset Printing Ink 7%
Sheetfed Offset Ink 20%
News Ink 40%
News ink (color) 30%
Business form ink 20%
Soybean oil ink characteristics
Soybean oil ink is an indispensable material for environmental printing. It has the following features:
1) Soybean oil ink, especially pure soybean oil ink is based on 100% soybean oil, and the VOC component is 0, which can effectively prevent air pollution and improve the printing shop environment. At the same time, due to the good deinking effect of printed matter, it is conducive to recycling, and it has environmental protection features.
2) Colorful, excellent machine stability and good post-printing property, great latitude for paper.
However, due to the use of plant-type materials in soybean oil inks, the drying rate is relatively slow and the price is high. To solve this problem, Shanghai DIC has developed 100% soyoil-based sheetfed offset ink - Naturalith 100 with a VOC component of 0. It is completely free of petroleum solvents and replaced with 100% soybean oil and other vegetable oils. In order to solve the problem of relatively slow drying of soybean oil inks, Shanghai DIC has also developed the "CLS drying system" technology. CLS (Cross linking Structure) system can promote the rapid film formation of the ink layer, so that the soybean oil ink has better drying and rubbing resistance than the ordinary ink, and the 3 to 4 color overprint can also show the fixing property of the ordinary ink. And can form a solid, wear-resistant ink layer.
Source of information: China Coating Network