Ink problems come to fore at SaS
During his three-hour workshop, Siegwerk’s Dinesh Pillai took the audience through the detailed intricacies about offset inks and troubleshooting the many issues related to it.
16 Sep 2015 | 2736 Views | By Priya Raju
Organised at GIPT in Mumbai on 12 September 2015, this was the eighth Seekho aur Samjho (SaS) workshop.
To begin with, Pillai explained about the various components of inks and how each component is critical in obtaining an optimum print quality.
An insight on the offset ink manufacturing; the manufacturing process and the various test related to ink properties, was discussed in detail.
The session saw Pillai discuss about the principles of different ink drying process i.e. physical, with chemicals and a combined technique. Also, the various techniques like IR radiation and spraying of powder used on press was explained. Pillai said, “The substrate and its compatibility with inks used play a critical role in the drying process.”
Bringing the causes and solutions for ink-related problems to the fore, Pillai shared examples One being, the cause for set-off in print being bad absorption properties of the substrate, the PH value, and emulsification value. He also shared key tips to better handle ink and control wastages.
Queries by the participants related to problems such as ink set-off, dot gain and hickeys were addressed to in detail by the Siegwerk team.
An initiative of the BMPA, PrintWeek India, Government Institute of Printing Technology, Mumbai, and SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai, the SaS workshops are a monthly feature alternating between the host colleges.