What is Waterbased Silk Screen Printing Ink?

Waterbased inks can be dissolved in water, as the name implies. Water is the most important element in these inks, and it is used to convey the colour pigment. Waterbased silk screen printing ink can also be used by those with no or limited screen printing experience. Because the ink soaks into the fibres of the textile, it takes a bit of time and the right amount of heat to dry entirely.

Unlike plastisol ink, waterbased ink entirely absorbs into the fabric rather than lying on top of it. Water-based inks produce a soft, smooth, and long-lasting print because of this.

Water-based inks are available in a variety of varieties—

Ready-to-use inks (RFU) and high-solid acrylic inks (HSA).

Water-based inks that are ready to use are easy to work with and provide a fantastic finish. RFU inks are pre-mixed pigments that come in many different bright colours. These colours can be used on lightweight materials directly if needed. For optimum pigmentation, greater coverage, and a sleek finish when using RFU on dark materials, apply a white under base.

High Solid Acrylic inks are a new ink formulation that was created to address some of the issues that regular water-based inks have.

Water-based inks are frequently too watery, runny, thin and translucent. Furthermore, the ink on the screen is prone to drying off. High-solid acrylic inks, on the other hand, provide a great solution to all of these issues. A hardening binder has been incorporated into these inks, giving them plastisol ink-like qualities. HSA inks take a long time to dry and can spread and imprint on top of one another.

HSA inks can also be used to create more complicated prints, such as halftones and simulated prints. It works similarly to plastisol ink and delivers soft, clear results.

Advantage of Using Waterbased Ink for Screen Printing

Numerous organizations in the screen printing industry chose plastisol inks over water-based inks. And the reason behind this is simple and obvious. Plastisol inks are easier to handle and don’t necessitate a lot of pre-press work; especially entry-level printers can manage them. The ink is thick and suitable for crisp graphics.

Despite the advantages of printing with plastisol inks, the use of water-based ink has expanded dramatically in recent years. Waterbased inks have a variety of benefits, including the following:

They’re eco-friendly

Water-based inks, such as Plastisol, offer a more environmentally friendly alternative to PVC-based inks.

Plastisol inks are not totally free of phthalates and PVC, even if they are created without them. Water-based non-toxic inks, on the other hand, use water as a solvent and hence have no environmental impact.

Soft-Hand Prints are one of their specialties

Many buyers nowadays want such soft-hand prints. When the ink film produced on the fabric’s surface is touched, it has a velvety hand.

When using water-based inks, the fabric is entirely saturated with the ink, resulting in fine, soft-hand prints. Plastisol inks, on the other hand, linger on the fabric’s surface, giving a hard and gritty print surface.

It enables you to see finer details

Water-based inks work by colouring the cloth fibres, allowing for more detailed printing than plastisol inks. The print’s quality is likewise quite sharp and precise.

It gives prints that last longer

Even though all greater screen printing inks may generate durable prints, nothing can beat the durability and quality that water-based inks can provide.

The colour penetrates fine threads in water-based ink printing, becoming a part of the fabric. Water-based ink prints remain as long as the material.

Many factors come into play while deciding between all of the screenprinting/silk screening inks options on the market. The ink you choose should be based on the material you’re printing on, the design you’re printing, the size of your workspace, your budget, the print finish you want, and your environmental aspects.

To get excellent and sharp film output, make it a point to use top-quality and professional-grade silk screen printing ink only.