How to select the water-based ink?

There are so many different types of water-based inks, how can we select the correct one to use? There are four factors which needs to be taken into consideration before we select the correct one to use:

Factor 1, Substrate material – this is the most basic ones, as we all understand, nylon fabric and cotton fabric uses different ink, acrylic and glass uses different ink (even though they look similar)… Well, sometimes even if the materials are all called identical such as “Nylon”, there could have different surface treatment e.g. water repellent or the others, so we must be careful to test the substrate when we choose the proper ink.

Factor 2, Printing sample – Often in times, water-based ink is asked to replace the current solvent-based ink. In such cases, it’s also important for us to have the current available printing samples as reference against the new water-based inks.

Factor 3, Printing process – this is also quite basic, as we all understand, different printing process asks for different ink features. Octopus screen printing machine asks for faster drying than hand screen printing, gravure printing is also different from flex printing. We need to analyze the process / machines when selecting the inks.

Factor 4, Functional features attention, lastly but importantly, since different products request different function features, even if we use the same substrate, same process, same outlook, the inks may target for different features. Sometimes the customer wants it to be softer, some wants it to be stiffer, some wants it to more durable, some wants it to be shiny, some wants it to be dull finish…. All these details needs to be carefully considered.

These 4 factors are also extremely important when we communicate for any inks development. At DAS waterbased ink factory, we discuss with our customers thoroughly for all above factors so that we can satisfy our customers’ needs.