Printing Ink

Question: What is Ink Absorbency?

Answer: Ink Absorbency is the ability of a paper to absorb printing ink. Expressed either as the quantity of ink a paper can absorb or the rate at which the ink is absorbed. Ink absorbency can also be expressed as a combination of the two.

Question: What is Setting?

‍Answer: Setting is the first drying phase for offset ink, where the inks oil fraction is absorbed into the paper. The second phase is hardening.

Question: What is Viscosity?

Answer: Viscosity is a measure of how viscous, or thick, a fluid is e.g. a printing ink.

Question: What are Process Colours?

Answer: Process Colours are CMYK or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black inks, used for printing coloured images. These are transparent inks used in the subtractive colour system. Printed on top of one another showing layers underneath to reveal shades of the image.

Question: What is Oxidation Ink Drying?

Answer: Vegetable formulated inks dry using oxidation to harden onto the paper stock.

Question: What is a Binding Agent?

‍Answer: A Binding Agent is an additive used to give printing ink good adhesion to the paper.

Question: What is Ink Density?

Answer: Ink density is the measurement of how much ink is printed on paper stock. It is measured using a densitometer. Altered using back pressure on Impression Cylinder of a Printing Press. Ink density and back pressure are noted for future consistent re-runs i.e. Cyan 1.4, Magenta 1.4,Yellow 1.3 and Black 1.7 using wet ink densities.Tip would be to use a support percentage of Cyan ink under solid black text areas to achieve higher density.

Question: What is Absorption?

Answer: Absorption is taking in or soaking up. In the first drying phase or setting of an offset ink the inks oil is absorbed by the paper.If the pigment is also absorbed a lower density is produced.