Gloss-controllable, radiation-curable inkjet ink

摘要

Gloss-controllable, radiation-curable inkjet inks cure quickly with minimal radiation exposure, enabling high-printing speed and low surface heating with controllable gloss on the printed image. Ink gloss can be controlled by varying the pinning energy to create the printed images with varied gloss from 10 to 100 gloss unit at 85° gloss measurement angle. After curing, the ink remains flexible on the surface, giving excellent performance on a wide range of surfaces, greatly expanding the range of applications for the ink. A gloss-controllable, radiation-curable inkjet ink may include approximately 8-18% of photo-initiators responding to UVA and UVV (UVA: 320-400 nm wavelengths, UVV: 400-450 nm wavelengths) radiation to initiate free radicals and optionally, other types of photo-initiators and approximately 60-85% of highly flexible mono-functional monomers. The resulting ink is of low viscosity, having excellent flexibility after curing, is low-odor and permits excellent print quality and high productivity on a wide range of surfaces.

主权项

1. An ink composition comprising:
a colorant component; a photo-initiator component, wherein the photo-initiator component has a predetermined composition and concentration, wherein any of the composition and the concentration of the photo-initiator in the ink composition is chosen based on the absorbance signature of one or both of the colorant component and the resulting ink composition, to produce inks of different colors in which drop spread is substantially uniform across ink colors, to result in:
predetermined pinning and cure rates of said ink composition upon exposure of said ink composition to UV radiation; anda predetermined degree of gloss on a cured surface of said ink composition; and a flexible mono-functional monomer component present in said ink composition in an amount of 60-85 percent by weight of said ink composition; wherein said ink composition is configured to remain flexible after UV curing.