What’s offset printing ink?

Author: Fanny Zeng

Offset book printing is the most important printing method in the world,it’s characteristic is need to use fountain solution in the printing process,so offset printing ink requires good water-resistance. In the past, the binders of offset printing inks were mainly vegetable oils, such as linseed oil. Now most of them have been replaced by various of resins with better performance. Common resins include rosin-modified phenolic resins, alkyd resins and polyurethane alkyd resins,etc.

In the production of offset printing, the corresponding ink should be selected according to the paper used, the type of offset printing machine, the printing speed,product properties and uses..

What’s offset printing ink?

Offset ink is also called offset printing ink. It is a large category of lithographic ink, which refers to the general term for inks suitable for various offset printing presses.

What are the commonly used offset inks

Commonly used offset printing inks are: oil, ordinary resin, bright resin, quick-drying (fast-fixing) resin, quick-setting glossy resin, metal (gold,silver), Non-thermosetting rotation resin, thermosetting rotation offset resin, etc.

1.Oil offset printing ink is slightly worse when printing. Since the mid-1960s, it has been gradually replaced by various resin-type offset printing inks. At present, it is only used in some small and medium-sized printing plants. It is mainly used for general books and periodicals. Mainly use for ordinary prints such as covers, color packaging, etc.

2.ordinary resin offset printing ink is modified from synthetic resin on the basis of oil offset printing ink. It is widely used in offset printing or letterpress color printing production.Mainly use for cheap book printing service.

  1. bright resin offset printing ink and quick-drying resin offset printing ink are commonly used mid-range offset printing inks, mainly used for the printing of color prints with mesh tone or solid color,such as calendar printing, picture albums, and color magazines. Concurrent supply for letterpress printing packaging paper, trademarks and other color printing. The difference between the two is that the resin type bright offset printing ink is mainly dried by oxidative polymerization, while the resin type quick-drying offset printing ink is mainly dried by penetration gelation.
  2. quick-setting glossy resin offset printing ink is one of the most commonly used high-grade offset printing inks, mainly used for printing color magazines, picture albums, high-grade packaging paper products, etc. This ink has excellent color expression, high color concentration, bright and pure color, excellent print ability and dot reproducibility, fast drying, high gloss, the tolerance and rubbing resistance of the ink film are both good.
  3. Metal (gold, silver) offset printing ink is prepared by mixing metallic pigments, special connecting materials and a certain amount of auxiliary materials. It is mainly used for luxury book printing and printing packaging paper products, trademarks, labels, etc.
  4. Non-thermosetting rotation resin offset printing ink, also known as resin-based cold-set rotate offset printing ink, is used in high-speed roate offset printing machines and can be matched with newsprint, book paper, letterpress paper and other non-coated papers.
  5. Thermosetting rotation resin offset printing ink is improved from thermosetting type rotation printing ink. It is composed of pigment, resin type thermosetting binder and modifier. It is mainly used for printing color newspapers, magazines, advertisements, catalogs, tourism Brochures, telephone directories, etc.