Characteristics and application of offset PANTONE spot color ink
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The American PANTONE color standard certification is a unified and unambiguous description of colors in a digital language, providing a convenient and fast color scheme and color standard for the packaging and printing industry and the ink manufacturing industry. In the countries with developed ink industry in the world, the color of packaging, publishing and printing inks has been widely adopted by the United States PANTONE unified spot color standard, which not only facilitates users, but also stabilizes the quality. The rapid development of the packaging and printing industry puts new demands on the design of colors, so it is especially important to ensure the consistency and stability of the color of printed batches.
In order to cater to the development of the market, ink manufacturers and packaging and printing companies need to have a basic understanding of the basic characteristics and formulation methods of spot color inks, and should be able to apply them skillfully to meet the market's color requirements for packaging and decoration prints, so that our customers and Enterprises have taken the lead in the fierce market competition and continuously expanded their market share. Let us first understand - the difference between PANTONE spot color ink and ordinary ink
1.PANTONE basic color ink color characteristics
PANTONE basic color is a pure primary color ink, which is formulated with a single pigment (or colorant) in a high percentage. It has a very high color density and color purity. Pantone's 14 basic colors are no exception.
Basic color name Pigment index number Pigment content (%)
PANTONE Warm Red C PR-57:1 21.00
PANTONE Orange 021C PO-34 17.10
PANTONE red 032C PR-11 17.60
PANTONE 射光蓝C PB-61 17.00
PANTONE Blue 072C PB-1:2 17.00
PANTONE Blue Violet C PV-3 22.10
PANTONE inks are characterized by the use of a single pigment to prepare the basic color, which has the characteristics of pure color, vivid color, high concentration, small color difference and high color matching precision.
2. Color characteristics of ordinary color offset ink
At present, the sheetfed offset printing inks produced by major domestic ink companies are roughly classified into two types: resin offset printing inks and bright fast curing resin offset printing inks. Due to the different formula design of each manufacturer, the ink color concentration is different; because of the difference in the manufacturer's sales area and usage habits, and there is no uniform color standard, although the color is complete, the ink concentration is different. In view of the above, PANTONE basic color inks can be selected when selecting printing inks with high color requirements. At present, nearly 10 offset printing ink manufacturers in China have passed the franchise certification of PANTONE in the United States. It is very convenient to purchase PANTONE basic color inks in China. As long as the color is adjusted according to the color matching guide of PANTONE color card, the color of printing ink can be guaranteed.
3. Performance comparison between PANTONE basic color ink and ordinary color ink
1) Dryness of ink
Offset printing inks mainly have two methods: fixing drying and oxidizing conjunctiva drying. Fixation drying is generally referred to as initial drying, which means that the ink does not stick to each other after the ink is transferred to the paper, and the time consumed is called the initial drying time. Oxide conjunctiva drying refers to the chemical change process from the initial drying to the complete drying of the ink, and the ink film from colloid to solid. The time taken is called the oxidized conjunct film drying time. The drying speed of these two drying methods is directly related to the formulation design of the ink. Ordinary resin offset printing inks have a slow drying time and oxidative conjunctiva drying time, which is not suitable for PANTONE color inks, and bright fast-setting offset inks can be adapted to PANTONE color inks.
2) Ink concentration
PANTONE basic color ink concentration is higher, ordinary ink needs two printing dark field, if PANTONE basic color ink, not only can be completed at one time, and can express the effect of "deep ink light printing", not easy to stick dirty, suitable for smoke Printing of wine, cosmetics, poker and other boxes. The ordinary resin offset printing ink has a low concentration and a slow drying speed, and is not suitable for blending PANTONE color ink in the field printing. The three primary colors of the bright fast-setting ink basically meet the PANTONE color density requirements.
3) Other performance evaluation
PANTONE basic color formula design has greater flexibility, and can be formulated according to different paper and post-press processing. Especially for cigarette pack products with high wear resistance, PANTONE basic color ink can also add 3%~ 5% of the fluorine-containing polymer compound significantly improves the abrasion resistance of the ink without affecting the concentration of the ink.
The basic color ink can also adjust the viscosity, fluidity and dryness of the ink according to the ink absorption and surface smoothness of the paper. The control of the drying property is mainly to control the drying speed of the middle and bottom layers of the ink by using the organic acid salt, and at the same time, the phenolic antioxidant can also be used to make the non-skinning ink. In short, the high concentration and high purity of PANTONE basic color ink pigments bring great flexibility to our formulation design.
In addition, the quality standards of ordinary resin offset printing inks and bright fast-setting resin offset printing inks that have been formulated by the state are considered as the direct use performance of the products, and the flexibility and adaptability of the re-dispensing of the inks are insufficiently emphasized. When PANTONE light ink is blended, it is often the main color ink is not pure, such as dilute with transparent white ink, and does not meet the requirements of PANTONE standard color, which leads to color cast, which is inevitable.
In summary, there are some differences between the characteristics of PANTONE basic color inks and ordinary color inks. When blending special color inks, we can develop strengths and avoid weaknesses according to the characteristics of various types of inks, and more scientifically and economically adjust the spot color inks - PANTONE spot color inks. Matching points
There must be some understanding of the blending of several basic inks before dispensing PANTONE spot color inks.
1. Light color ink blending
Transparent white is a translucent gel with offset ink properties, which is made up of about 25% to 28% translucent nano-calcium and resin oil. It has PANTONE basic ink technology. The characteristics, in any proportion of the distribution will not affect the printing performance, and the color is light and tasteless, with good fixing drying force and post-print gloss. Transparent white has the following characteristics:
1 high transparency, light color, suitable for multi-color overprinting;
2 has good fluidity, elasticity and mixing;
3 fast drying speed, high gloss and good storage stability.
There are many printing companies that use traditional white ink to match light-colored inks, but the color effect is not very good, because white ink is produced by achromatic pigments, the content of powdered pigments is usually 60% to 70%, and the binder content is relatively less. The light-colored inks blended with white ink have the disadvantages of large ink ratio, poor transfer performance, easy emulsification, low gloss, poor light resistance, easy pulverization, strong decolorization and high hiding power. Therefore, it is recommended that printing companies use transparent white as much as possible when formulating light-colored inks. It is best not to use white ink or use it in proportion to transparent white.
2. Dark ink blending
Dark ink means that in the ink ratio of relatively high concentration, the content of transparent white is small, and it is mainly prepared by color ink. In the dark ink preparation, the general printing can be adjusted according to the formula ratio of the PANTONE color matching guide, but some special color and technical performance requirements of the product should be adjusted. For products with high color density and need to print twice, because the ink layer is thick, the back of the printed matter is easy to be dirty, and it is possible to use a fast drying ink, or add some red dry oil in an appropriate amount. The middle layer of dry desiccant and anti-adhesive agent (provided by the professional ink company), choose the paper with good absorption, can reduce the machine speed and increase the dusting when printing. In addition, the dark blue ink with high concentration of blue light should be blended. It should be noted that the chemical structure of the blue light contains anti-oxidation groups, and the principle of first trial printing and post-production should be adopted to prevent poor print drying.
3. Process requirements
PANTONE spot color inks must be considered for post-press processing. For post-press requirements for film coating and water-based glazing, when adding ink, remove the high-viscosity remover and wear-resistant auxiliaries, plus wear-resistant additives. It can make the ink film smooth and wear-resistant, but it will change the surface structure of the ink layer, which is not conducive to water-based glazing and film coating. If the red dry oil is excessive, the ink will be crystallized quickly, which may result in poor filming and glazing. In addition, when dispensing spot color inks, the proof paper provided by the printer must be consistent with the printing paper to prevent excessive color difference. The deployment of spot color ink should also consider the application characteristics. It is used for large-area solid-printing inks. The viscosity should not be too high, the viscosity is high and the paper can be pulled, and the surface of the ink film is not flat. Also consider the season, the winter viscosity is lower, and the summer is relatively higher. From the application performance of spot color inks, the accuracy of ink color is the most important. Therefore, it is best to use PANTONE basic color ink to match the spot color ink. The formula made with PANTONE basic ink is very versatile and can guarantee the ink index. . Here are two commonly used PANTONE spot color ink blending methods - PANTONE color matching method
1.PANTONE color card comparison method
The PANTONE color guide contains 1114 PANTONE spot colors, which are printed on glossy coated paper and offset paper, and fan-shaped binding, which provides users with convenient selection methods for selection and comparison. All color marks are marked with PANTONE color name. (number) and blending ratio, all colors are made up of a set of 14 standard basic color inks and transparent white. When receiving the customer's standard color sample, you can directly compare with the PANTONE color card color matching guide to find a relatively similar color standard, and then determine the hue according to the actual color difference, find out the main cause of the color difference, and then press the result of the judgment. Formulated with ink for convenience and practicality.
2. Weighing method
When receiving the customer's standard color sample, you can first press the PANTONE color card for preliminary comparison, find the relatively similar PANTONE number color standard, according to its basic color, use the 1/100 precision medical balance to adjust the formulation ratio. PANTONE color standard color is usually composed of 2 to 4 basic colors. The basic color ink can be weighed according to the proportion. The weighing amount can be more appropriate, and the name and weight of each basic color ink are marked. . Each basic color ink was taken out according to the PANTONE ratio by a reduction method, placed on a glass plate (40 cm × 60 cm, better electric heating), and evenly stirred and then formulated.
The formulated ink is printed with a certain amount of ink by the IGT adaptability meter, and the printed sample is compared with the standard color sample, and the color is repeated until it is consistent with the standard color sample, and then the remaining basic color ink weight in the sulfuric acid paper is weighed, and the calculation is calculated. The consumption of each basic color ink is converted into a percentage. This method is called formula deduction. The more the printing time is in the operation, the larger the consumption error of the basic color ink is. In order to improve the accuracy, the verification can be re-weighed according to the converted percentage formula, so that the obtained formula has relatively high accuracy. This method is suitable for the blending of PANTONE spot color inks. As long as it has a certain knowledge of color science and weighing, it can quickly grasp the color matching law.
With the deepening of China's opening up to the outside world and the integration of Eastern and Western cultures, the demand for the preparation of various spot color inks is increasing. It is an inevitable trend to use PANTONE color system as the color standard. It is also our printing and ink industry. One of the quicker methods. Colleagues in the printing and ink industry should jointly meet the challenges of new technologies and make full use of the PANTONE color matching method to innovate. Recently, PANTONE has newly introduced color pearlescent, metallic and high-fidelity six-color ink standards. These new varieties contain new ideas for ink distribution, which is worthy of our joint research and exploration.