Date of Award

8-2014

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Chemical and Paper Engineering

First Advisor

Dr. Alexandra Pekarovicova

Second Advisor

Dr. Paul D. Fleming

Third Advisor

Dr. Margaret Joyce

Keywords

Ink formulation, gravure printing, pigment disperio, CIELAB, particle size

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Rotogravure printing of decorative laminates, wall coverings, or vinyl floorings process often uses solvent based inks. The main constraining factor with solvent based ink is presence of volatile organic compounds (VOC’s). Due to the environmental norms on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and restrictions on using solvent based inks, the ink industry came up with water based ink as more environmentally friendly alternative. Organizations which print decorative laminates, wall coverings, or vinyl floorings with solvent based inks have gravure printing infrastructure, which is often equipped with low efficiency driers capable of drying solvent based inks. In order to comply with environmental norms, it is necessary to switch to water based ink, preferably employing existing drier configuration. One feasible approach to use existing equipment will be to deposit less ink on substrate so that current driers can dry water based ink efficiently. Less ink deposition can be achieved by using engraving with higher resolution, thus employing cells with lesser volume. The aim of this work was to formulate water based inks with higher pigmentation and higher solids content to match solvent based gravure ink. Color strength in terms of CIELAB values was evaluated for each ink and engraving. These color values were compared with reference solvent based ink by calculating ΔEab color difference.

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