If we shouldn’t use petroleum-based ink, what should we use? Here are the top 3 eco-friendly printing ink alternatives… SOY-BASED PRINTING INK Soy-based ink falls under a wide category of vegetable-based ink which also includes flax, canola, and safflower. It has an array of benefits that makes it the most popular choice when it comes to eco-friendly printing ink options. Made from soybeans, it’s known to produce very vivid colours due to its ability to carry solid pigments. This is why newspapers and document printing tend to use this type of ink.However, what makes soy-based ink really attractive, is that soybeans are a renewable resource and the oils from the plant can be easily extracted. Additionally, soy-based ink is recyclable and produces little to no VOCs! While soy ink is generally slower to dry, its sustainable nature makes it a good alternative if you’re looking to switch to an eco-friendlier printing ink option! WATER-BASED PRINTING INK With water being another renewable resource, water-based inks are another famous alternative. It’s most popular because it produces a soft-touch feeling. Additionally, this ink is a good option if you’re looking for something that can spread and provide good coverage. When in use, it seeps into the material rather than sitting on top. If you’re using this ink on fabrics, it does tend to fade faster but doesn’t produce the harmful chemicals that other inks do. UV-BASED PRINTING INK Ultraviolet (UV) ink is the final eco-friendly printing ink alternative we’ll be discussing. UV ink first comes in a liquid form, but quickly turns solid once cured under a UV light. One of the main advantages about this ink is that it does not contain any solvents, meaning it does not release harmful VOCs into the air.Furthermore, because of its curation process, the ink can help your business in saving costs! As you can see, there are a variety of eco-friendly printing ink options you can use to become a more sustainable business. We can help you choose the best printing ink option specific to your product needs as well! If you have any questions, pls let us know.

The liquid flexible packaging ink is made by resin, pigment, additives and solvent. And the resin is the core of the ink, now PU resin becomes more and more popular, especially for the retorting application. We have the plasticizer, semi-film-forming and film-forming PU resin for ink. They are widely used for surface printing ink and lamination ink in both flexo and gravure printing technology. With the excellent color strength and adhesion property, they can meet different requirements and applications. Plasticizer The plasticizer grade PU resin is mainly for the surface printing ink, which cooperates with NC resin. Because it is polymeric plasticizer, there is no migration issue, and it has good heat, oil, fat, grease, and moisture resistance. Compared with NC resin, it is soft resin, and the hardness can be adjusted to get different performance. Because the molecular weight is low, the resin itself will be always sticky. All the products have excellent alcohol tolerance property, so they can make the flexo and gravure ink. Semi Film Forming The semi-film-forming grade PU resin is widely used for surface printing ink and simple lamination ink, which cooperates with NC resin. It is based on the plasticizer grade PU resin, but we increase the NCO content to make it harder. Then we get better adhesion property, anti-blocking property, heat resistance and grease resistance. We can also adjust the hardness to improve the performance. Because the molecular weight is high, the resin can be a film after evaporation. Due to the alcohol tolerance is normal, normally it is for gravure ink. And it also can be used as adhesion promoter. Film Forming The film-forming grade PU resin is mainly used for lamination ink, some also can make the surface printing ink due to excellent color strength. Normally it can cooperate with NC resin, vinyl resin (Vinyl Chloride-Vinyl Acetate Copolymer) and PVB resin, some also can make the 100% PU ink. All the products have good compatibility with different adhesives to achieve high bonding strength. Due to the ultra high molecular weight, it has excellent adhesion property, anti-blocking property, heat and chemical resistance, so it can do the hot filling, boiling and retorting application. They have excellent solvent release ability, so it is suitable for high speed printing ink. Some products have excellent alcohol tolerance, so it is possible make the flexo and gravure ink.

An Acrylic resin is a polymeric material (in solution, dispersion or solid) containing acrylic monomers. These monomers are usually esters of acrylic, methacrylic acids or their derivatives, and can be functionalized by introducing different chemical groups (R groups). Others monomers can also be incorporated in the polymer chains in order to obtain resins with different properties or lower cost. In general Acrylic resins show good chemical and photochemical resistance. They are commonly used in many different applications, from solvent-based and water-based industrial coatings to architectural coatings. Selecting Acrylic Resins： Glass Transition Temperature (Tg) The Glass Transition Temperature (Tg) is the temperature at which a polymeric material will go from a glassy solid state to a liquid state. The Tg of an acrylic resin is defined by the resin formulation. This parameter has a key role on Hardness/flexibility of the final paint film. The following rules can help selecting a resin formulation with suitable Tg: Tg will strongly depend on the resin monomers (methacrylate monomers have a higher Tg than acrylate ones) Tg increases with the degree of cross-linking (number of cross-links between 2 polymer chains) Higher the Tg , harder (less flexible) the film obtained The presence of other monomers (styrene for example), the nature of the reactive or non-reactive R group present or the Tg of the crosslinking agent used (melamine or isocyanate for example) will of course influence the final Tg. Viscosity The viscosity of an acrylic resin depends on the solid content, but the average molecular weight of the polymers in the resin and the molecular weight distribution will also have an impact. Usually the following rules apply: For the same solid content the higher the average molecular weight of the polymer the higher the viscosity. When the average molecular weight is the same, narrower the molecular weight distribution, lower is the viscosity. It is important to notice that the average molecular weight has no influence on the viscosity for latex emulsions. In this specific case viscosity depends on the particle size and size distribution. Acid Value The acid is an indicator of the number of carboxyl group present on in the copolymer. It is usually expressed as the amount of KOH needed to neutralize1gof resin (See DIN 53402 or ISO 2114). The number of carboxyl group has an impact on the adhesion properties of the resin and on the solubility in water. The higher the acid value, the higher the number of carboxyl groups. Hydroxyl Value Number The hydroxyl value is an indicator of the reactivity of the acrylic resins functionalized with hydroxyl functions (ie the number of OH group available). It is usually expressed as the KOH mass in mg equivalent to the amount of acetic acid reacting during the acetylation of1gof resin. The higher the hydroxyl value, the higher the reactivity (and thus the cross-linking possibilities). Minimum Film-forming Temperat...

Along with the summer, the annual Dragon Boat Festival is coming. On this speical season, we wish everyone happiness and health, all the best, and a happy Dragon Boat Festival! The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is a traditional Chinese folk festival - the Dragon Boat Festival, which is one of the ancient traditional festivals of the Chinese nation. Celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival has been a traditional Chinese custom for more than 2,000 years. Due to the vast territory, numerous ethnic groups, and many stories and legends, different customs in different places. Its contents mainly include: hanging calamus and wormwood, wearing sachets, preparing glutinous rice, dragon boat racing, drinking realgar wine, calamus wine, eating five poisonous cakes, salted eggs, zongzi and seasonal fresh fruits, etc. It is a significant holiday in China. It memory of a talented and patriotic poet called Qu Yuan, who drowned in Miluo River on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in 278 B.C. To celebrate the upcoming 2022 Dragon Boat Festival, Sunman company is scheduled a 3-day holiday which is from June 3th to June 5th. We will be back to work on June 6th, 2022. Sorry for any inconvenience it may have.