With the improvement of people's awareness of environmental protection, the urgent need for "environmental protection" printing materials is increasing. Especially food packaging, tobacco and alcohol packaging, children's toy packaging, etc. are printed on. The environmental protection department has always required the ultimate zero emission of VOC. In order to achieve more stringent environmental management goals, more and more manufacturers use water-based inks. The market accounts for about half of the entire packaging printing. The proportion of flexographic printing will gradually increase, so water-based inks The potential domestic market is huge.

 

Water-based inks are particularly suitable for packaging and printing products that require strict sanitary conditions. Since the water-based ink does not contain volatile organic solvents, it can not only reduce the residual toxicity on the surface of the printed matter, but also has no pollution and no emissions, making the printing equipment easy to clean, and can reduce the fire hazard and hidden dangers caused by static electricity and flammable solvents. Water-based ink is called a new type of "green" printing material, and the packaging has extremely low harm to the human body and the environment. Among them, the main influence of water-based ink has two major aspects:

 

1. Packaging materials that directly contact food. Such as paper, plastics, metals, etc. cannot carry any pollution sources, but some materials are inevitable, and they must rely on packaging and printing. Water-based inks are made of specific water-based polymer resins, water, and pigments. The biggest advantage is that they do not contain volatiles. Organic solvents, its use reduces the amount of organic volatiles, adds a protective layer on the substrate, so that the food does not directly contact the materials with residual pollution sources. For example, the printing or composite layer in the plastic film, etc., play a very good barrier effect.

 

2. Pollution of the environment. Toluene and other toxic gases in the solvent are directly discharged into the atmosphere, and there are residual toluene and other toxic substances on the surface of the substrate after printing. Plastic films are mostly food packaging materials, and the presence of residues can cause food contamination. The solvents used in water-based inks are water and ethanol, which can greatly reduce the emission of harmful gases and will not cause pollution to the substrate. From the perspective of food hygiene, flexographic printing is the most suitable packaging printing process, and it is the best choice for pharmaceutical packaging.