GC 3460 TEST 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
What is the role of ink? - Answers :(specifically the pigment) is the filter we apply to the
substrate to remove light.
What are the basic ways an ink needs to perform? - Answers :flow through the press
and stick the pigment to the substrate.
100% solid - Answers :nothing evaporates, everything stays and hardens (other ink, the
liquid component evaporates)
What are the 3 components of ink? - Answers :pigment
vehicle
additives
Pigment - Answers :solid component of ink
suspended within the ink itself
organic or inorganic
dry powder or wet presscake
Vehicle - Answers :liquid component
made up of resin and solvent
determines most ink properties (stiffness, drying rate, adhesion, gloss, rub resistance)
resin - Answers :in natural state is a solid
need the solvent to liquify it
when solvent disappears, resin and pigments left behind
resin hardens and binds ink to substrate
natural rosins, acrylics, cellulosics
solvent - Answers :used to liquify the resin
disappears once we put ink on substrate
must dissolve resin without attacking pigment
evaporate at an acceptable resin
compatible with printing plate
mineral oils, vegetable oils
alcohols, tolulene, amines, water
colloidal suspensions - Answers :how we describe inks
solid pigments in liquid vehicle
dyes - Answers :different from inks because they dissolve
Lampblack soot - Answers :all inks used to be black and made of soot
this kind of soot is mostly carbon
this is what some black inks are called
,First inks - Answers :around 2500 BC
Egyptian and Chinese
developed individually
Wei Tang - Answers :4th or 5th century
Chinese craftsman
soot from burning oil wicks + tree gums
used his ink for wood block prints
Where did movable type come from - Answers :China (wood)
done by Wei Tang
India and ink - Answers :This is where Europeans saw it and started calling it "India Ink"
Gutenberg - Answers :moveable type
realized India ink wouldn't work because wouldn't stay on metal type or on the paper
boiled linseed oil and a natural resin then added pigment
worked with metal and stuck to paper
more consistent and fade resistant
varnish - Answers :prototype for modern ink manufacturing
has all the flow and binding characteristics you need, but doesn't have pigment
18th century for inks - Answers :first patent in England for making colored inks
19th century for inks - Answers :ink making becomes an independent enterprise
(instead of printers making their own)
dedicated chemists made rapid advancements with drying agents, and varnishes
ink widespread enough for people to focus souly on ink development
20th century for inks - Answers :innovation with advent of synthetic pigments and resins
new processes and faster printing technologies, new substrates, etc
What was lead used for in inks? - Answers :lightfastness
inorganic pigments - Answers :crushed minerals
opaque
good lightfastness
Organic pigments - Answers :made to be transparent
made in labs using carbon chemistry
varying lightfastness (some quite poor)
cyan good lightfastness
mix two colorless liquids (precipitate pigment)
this is where we get presscake
, lightfast - Answers :when exposed to light, it won't fade
Presscake - Answers :once pigment is rinsed during organic ink process, the resulting
pigment still contains about 60% water
water-based flexo inks use this to be dispersed into the vehicle
litho you have to flush the pigment
when shipping the rate is higher because of the weight of the water
flushing the pigment - Answers :remove water by binding to oil instead
pigments are drawn to the oil in the varnish and separate from the water (vegetable oil
or petroleum-based oil)
water then poured off or "flushed away"
How do manufacturers purchase the pigments - Answers :wet (press cakes)
or dry
dry pigment - Answers :made by baking the press cake to evaporate the water and
grinding the pigment
tend to agglomerate and must be milled to disperse in vehicle
agglomerate - Answers :bind together in clumps
natural resins - Answers :rosin
cellulosics
cyclized rubber
Synthetic resins - Answers :formulated for particular substrates and characteristics
acrylic
vinyls
maelics
polyamides
epoxies
lots of times they are combined so you get the characteristics you want
rosin - Answers :from pine trees
litho, flexo, gravure
cellulosics - Answers :cellulose fibers
scratch and rub resistance
cyclized rubber - Answers :we use on the duplicators
acrylic - Answers :good for foils and films
fade resistant
packaging applications
What is the role of ink? - Answers :(specifically the pigment) is the filter we apply to the
substrate to remove light.
What are the basic ways an ink needs to perform? - Answers :flow through the press
and stick the pigment to the substrate.
100% solid - Answers :nothing evaporates, everything stays and hardens (other ink, the
liquid component evaporates)
What are the 3 components of ink? - Answers :pigment
vehicle
additives
Pigment - Answers :solid component of ink
suspended within the ink itself
organic or inorganic
dry powder or wet presscake
Vehicle - Answers :liquid component
made up of resin and solvent
determines most ink properties (stiffness, drying rate, adhesion, gloss, rub resistance)
resin - Answers :in natural state is a solid
need the solvent to liquify it
when solvent disappears, resin and pigments left behind
resin hardens and binds ink to substrate
natural rosins, acrylics, cellulosics
solvent - Answers :used to liquify the resin
disappears once we put ink on substrate
must dissolve resin without attacking pigment
evaporate at an acceptable resin
compatible with printing plate
mineral oils, vegetable oils
alcohols, tolulene, amines, water
colloidal suspensions - Answers :how we describe inks
solid pigments in liquid vehicle
dyes - Answers :different from inks because they dissolve
Lampblack soot - Answers :all inks used to be black and made of soot
this kind of soot is mostly carbon
this is what some black inks are called
,First inks - Answers :around 2500 BC
Egyptian and Chinese
developed individually
Wei Tang - Answers :4th or 5th century
Chinese craftsman
soot from burning oil wicks + tree gums
used his ink for wood block prints
Where did movable type come from - Answers :China (wood)
done by Wei Tang
India and ink - Answers :This is where Europeans saw it and started calling it "India Ink"
Gutenberg - Answers :moveable type
realized India ink wouldn't work because wouldn't stay on metal type or on the paper
boiled linseed oil and a natural resin then added pigment
worked with metal and stuck to paper
more consistent and fade resistant
varnish - Answers :prototype for modern ink manufacturing
has all the flow and binding characteristics you need, but doesn't have pigment
18th century for inks - Answers :first patent in England for making colored inks
19th century for inks - Answers :ink making becomes an independent enterprise
(instead of printers making their own)
dedicated chemists made rapid advancements with drying agents, and varnishes
ink widespread enough for people to focus souly on ink development
20th century for inks - Answers :innovation with advent of synthetic pigments and resins
new processes and faster printing technologies, new substrates, etc
What was lead used for in inks? - Answers :lightfastness
inorganic pigments - Answers :crushed minerals
opaque
good lightfastness
Organic pigments - Answers :made to be transparent
made in labs using carbon chemistry
varying lightfastness (some quite poor)
cyan good lightfastness
mix two colorless liquids (precipitate pigment)
this is where we get presscake
, lightfast - Answers :when exposed to light, it won't fade
Presscake - Answers :once pigment is rinsed during organic ink process, the resulting
pigment still contains about 60% water
water-based flexo inks use this to be dispersed into the vehicle
litho you have to flush the pigment
when shipping the rate is higher because of the weight of the water
flushing the pigment - Answers :remove water by binding to oil instead
pigments are drawn to the oil in the varnish and separate from the water (vegetable oil
or petroleum-based oil)
water then poured off or "flushed away"
How do manufacturers purchase the pigments - Answers :wet (press cakes)
or dry
dry pigment - Answers :made by baking the press cake to evaporate the water and
grinding the pigment
tend to agglomerate and must be milled to disperse in vehicle
agglomerate - Answers :bind together in clumps
natural resins - Answers :rosin
cellulosics
cyclized rubber
Synthetic resins - Answers :formulated for particular substrates and characteristics
acrylic
vinyls
maelics
polyamides
epoxies
lots of times they are combined so you get the characteristics you want
rosin - Answers :from pine trees
litho, flexo, gravure
cellulosics - Answers :cellulose fibers
scratch and rub resistance
cyclized rubber - Answers :we use on the duplicators
acrylic - Answers :good for foils and films
fade resistant
packaging applications
