See the new perspective of specialty inks

Flash inks, pearl inks, fluorescent inks, temperature change inks—the names of these specialty inks sound exciting.

Special inks, as their name suggests, are functional inks that can provide special functions for packaging or its contents, such as

Improve the anti-counterfeiting function of products, increase the added value of products or increase consumer confidence.

One of the unfavorable factors in the use of specialty inks is the high cost. One reason is that the raw materials used in special inks are more expensive and the technology is more advanced. This is also the basis for special inks with special functions. Another reason is that the formulation of these inks is generally tailor-made according to customer requirements, or is targeted.

Of course, this does not mean that brand users will be deterred by the high prices of specialty inks. For branded packaging, the use of special inks is a practical and feasible measure. If you want your own packaging with distinctive features, so that the packaging pattern has greater appeal, or to make consumers more at ease with the purchase and increase the product's anti-counterfeiting capabilities, then the special ink is the ideal choice.

The special inks provided by SunChemical can meet almost any requirement, from product promotion, brand protection, functionality to anti-counterfeiting and so on. The company classifies specialty inks into four categories: functional inks, security inks, security inks, and innovative inks. Of course, the function of these inks is not single, such as temperature change ink can be used as a functional ink, can also be used for product anti-counterfeiting and improve consumer safety.

The following details the application of several typical special inks, as well as some new special inks.

Temperature change ink

Temperature change inks are inks that change color at a specific temperature and are classified into reversible and irreversible types. For example, the reversible temperature change ink can be used on the label of the coffee package to determine whether the coffee is too hot or too cold by color change or information display. It can also be used in baby shower gel to indicate whether the temperature of the bath water is overheated. The irreversible temperature change ink can be used to indicate whether a specific sterilization temperature has been reached, or to indicate whether the temperature of the product during transport and storage is too low or too high. At present, the use of temperature change ink is more reversible temperature change ink.

Fluorescent ink

Fluorescent inks can be used for product counterfeiting or to enhance the attractiveness of the image. The color fluorescent ink can see the ink color under normal light, and can produce the fluorescent effect under the ultraviolet light. Invisible fluorescent inks are barely visible under normal light, but they emit fluorescence under UV light. UV/IR reaction inks can simultaneously react to ultraviolet light and infrared light. Under infrared light with a wavelength of 980 nm, the ink can emit bright green fluorescence, while under ultraviolet light, it can show another kind of fluorescence effect.

UVitec offers fluorescent inks in a variety of color series such as yellow, orange, red, magenta, green, and cyan. In addition, there is a pink fluorescent color, which can be used as a fifth color in printing, to retouch the skin color in the printed image and expand the range of the magenta ink. These inks can be used for flexographic printing, rotary screen printing, offset printing, and relief printing. Alden & Ott's Starlight fluorescent inks give printers more choice in printing speed and color intensity. These inks are heat transferable and provide traditional color samples as well as PANTONE color samples. Fluorescent inks can also be applied to trinkets, running shoes, wallpapers (dark aisles for instructions). But the downside is that, like other specialty inks, fluorescent inks also affect printing speed during printing, and screen printing is often used to achieve high coverage.

Metal ink

Metallic inks can produce dazzling effects on product packaging on shelves.

WaterInk Technologies' WATERBRIGHT metal inks provide good metallic luster and excellent printability. Alden & Ott Printing Ink's Meterorite metallic inks are designed for narrow-web flexographic printing and can support high-quality overprinting due to the use of very small metal particles. Meterorite series metal inks are recommended to use high screen number of anilox rollers for better ink coverage.

Metal ink can also be used as a more economical alternative to aluminum foil. When the area of ​​aluminum foil on the packaging is less than 25%, it is more cost-effective to use metal ink instead of aluminum foil.

Environmental Ink Coatings offers several different metallic inks: The AquaGloss series of metal inks offers the best resistance to rubbing; the AquaSparkle series offers bright performance and high stability. Eckart's UltraStar metal inks can be printed on aluminum foil.

Sun Chemicals signed an agreement with metalFX Technologies in the United Kingdom to become the official ink manufacturer for metalFX, providing ink products for paper packaging, flexible packaging, hard packaging, and commercial printing, and achieving metal effects on packaging through the use of the metalFX solution. MetalFX utilizes the transparency of CMYK four-color inks, superimposing CMYK four colors on metalFXbase silver inks to realize thousands of printing colors, and controlling colors through metalFX software and color sample bodies. The silver ink is specially designed with good adhesion to the upper CMYK ink. According to the metalFX company's process description, first printing silver ink, and then overprint the standard CMYK ink, you can make an ordinary four-color prints show up to 615 kinds of metallic colors.

Other special inks

Currently, two-color inks (color transfer), flash inks, pearl inks, expanded inks, and three-dimensional inks are all of more interest in the market.

Rad-cure offers UV, water-based two-color inks for flexographic printing, suitable for paper and most plastic films. When viewed from different angles, the ink is converted from the white of the crucible to another color. Two-color inks can increase product appeal and anti-counterfeiting features. In addition, the effect of this ink color change cannot be captured by a copying machine or a scanner.

Flash inks enhance the visual appeal of labels, cartons, POP displays, and stickers. Rad-cure's RAD-KROME series of UV, water-based flash inks, and pearlescent inks can be used for flexographic and screen printing. In order to improve the visual effect of different inks, UVitec produces a rotary screen-printing UV flash coating that can be coated on-line to improve the ink's performance. Siegwerk Ink's phosphorescent inks can continue to emit light after the light source is turned off. This ink can be used in labels and toys and other products through gravure printing and screen printing.

Flint Ink has developed an ink system called HolographINKProcess that can produce eye-catching holographic effects without the use of expensive holographic materials. It can generate a variety of holographic colors and patterns on substrates. Form beautiful details and accurate positioning. Can be used for product decoration, brand identification, security and anti-counterfeiting. On a variety of substrates, such as PE, PP and PVC, can achieve higher adhesion strength.

The main feature of specialty inks is that they cause visual attention. The sense of hearing and taste may change in a short period of time. Relatively speaking, taste and touch attract more and more attention. Ink suppliers are doing their best to develop ink that can stimulate facial features. Although the cost is higher, the good economic benefits will not allow manufacturers to give up.