High UV Blocking Inks

mkochsch · May 26, 2007

Here's something interesting. I've been poking around the silk-screen and t-shirt printing sites because it's something that also interests me. They make positives where we make negatives using similar transparent projection materials. There's a whole line of OHP materials being marketed for either dye or pigmented printers depending on which one you use. The general consensus is that the dye printers do a better job of achieving higher densities. Companies supplying the screen printing industry even market their own line of dye inks for pigmented printers (e.g. R1800 and other Epson models). The REALLY interesting thing about this is that they ADD more UV blocking agents into inks because they need to block at much higher densities 4.0 logD.
Someone out there who needs ink should consider ordering some of these inks to test them out. If they're better for blocking UV they might be just the ticket for making superior digital negatives without having to resort to RIPS. The ArTainium inks in particular seem like they may hold great potential for upping the UV blocking bar.

http://www.imagecreations.ca/html/artainium_ink.html
http://screenprinters.net/product_group.php?gid=fastink&type=fastinkfilm

~m

donbga · May 26, 2007

mkochsch said:
Here's something interesting. I've been poking around the silk-screen and t-shirt printing sites because it's something that also interests me. They make positives where we make negatives using similar transparent projection materials. There's a whole line of OHP materials being marketed for either dye or pigmented printers depending on which one you use. The general consensus is that the dye printers do a better job of achieving higher densities. Companies supplying the screen printing industry even market their own line of dye inks for pigmented printers (e.g. R1800 and other Epson models). The REALLY interesting thing about this is that they ADD more UV blocking agents into inks because they need to block at much higher densities 4.0 logD.
Someone out there who needs ink should consider ordering some of these inks to test them out. If they're better for blocking UV they might be just the ticket for making superior digital negatives without having to resort to RIPS. The ArTainium inks in particular seem like they may hold great potential for upping the UV blocking bar.

http://www.imagecreations.ca/html/artainium_ink.html
http://screenprinters.net/product_group.php?gid=fastink&type=fastinkfilm

~m

Good catch Michael. This could be very useful for people printing with the Epson 1800.

Don

mkochsch · Jun 29, 2007

UV Resistant Inks

An interesting article about how inks are designed a couple of paragraphs in.

http://www.primjetcolor.com.pl/inkjet_ink_fading_ns.html#2

So, not only do T-Shirt makers use high UV resistant ink but it's also a desirable trait in the outdoor sign and off-set printing industries.

Does having a high UV resistance (fade resistance) necessarily mean the ink will also block more UV when used in a digital negative?

Historically, how do Epson inks (Dye, Pigmented, K3, Ultrachrome etc.) rank in terms of how well they produce UV density on a negative?

~m

wiz · Jun 30, 2007

mkochsch said:
An interesting article about how inks are designed a couple of paragraphs in.

http://www.primjetcolor.com.pl/inkjet_ink_fading_ns.html#2

So, not only do T-Shirt makers use high UV resistant ink but it's also a desirable trait in the outdoor sign and off-set printing industries.

Does having a high UV resistance (fade resistance) necessarily mean the ink will also block more UV when used in a digital negative?

Historically, how do Epson inks (Dye, Pigmented, K3, Ultrachrome etc.) rank in terms of how well they produce UV density on a negative?

I do believe that there's currently a correlation between fade resistance and UV blocking.

Magenta seems to have a great deal of UV blocking power. It's also the color that used to fade the fastest in "old school" inks, but magenta doesn't fade in modern inks, so I'm assuming it's pumped full of UV blockers.

And we had an interesting observation recently from dwross about the UV blocking capabilities of Epson black inks. He noted that they read higher densities on the UV densitometer than they did on the visible light densitometer. This shouldn't happen, because black ink is just carbon particles, and those block everything equally, visible, UV, or IR. So I theorized that Epson has a UV blocker in the liquid binder, so that there's a larger area of paper soaked in UV blocker than just the pigment particles would account for.

wiz · Jun 30, 2007

Oh, in answer to your other question, the pigmented inks traditionally produced the best UV densities, and they get higher with each generation, so it gets higher as you go from the first generation pigmented to ultrachrome, and even higher with K3.

The 1400 was a surprise, field reports say the dyes block less UV than previous dyes like the 1280. Either the colors are so stable that they don't need to be protected from UV, or the paper provides UV protection.

donbga · Jun 30, 2007

wiz said:
I do believe that there's currently a correlation between fade resistance and UV blocking.

Magenta seems to have a great deal of UV blocking power. It's also the color that used to fade the fastest in "old school" inks, but magenta doesn't fade in modern inks, so I'm assuming it's pumped full of UV blockers.

And we had an interesting observation recently from dwross about the UV blocking capabilities of Epson black inks. He noted that they read higher densities on the UV densitometer than they did on the visible light densitometer. This shouldn't happen, because black ink is just carbon particles, and those block everything equally, visible, UV, or IR. So I theorized that Epson has a UV blocker in the liquid binder, so that there's a larger area of paper soaked in UV blocker than just the pigment particles would account for.

With the printers I have used, it's been my experience that black inks have higher UV densities than visual densities. I don't lnow if that is true with all inks though.

BTW, dwross is a she not a he.

Don Bryant

dwross2 · Jun 30, 2007

Hi All,

I wish I did own a UV densitometer - quantifying the qualities of our materials is probably very smart. But, I didn't post anything about results of UV vs. visible. (I am a 'she' though. My thanks to Don.)

Denise

jag2x · Aug 5, 2008

Hi all,
The Dye Sublimation inks from what I understand need a polyester base for the ink to bind on. When used for the process of transferring from the printable sheet to the substrate(fabric, mugs), heat is applied to transfer it. Does this change the ink in any such way to increase the UV index when heated? Do transparency medium's have a polyester base, such as the Pictorico OHP?
From what I can see the Dye Sub inks are quite expensive than your normal OEM inks.
I wonder is there any such thing as a UV blocker ink, that you can just apply to your solution of normal ink!
Jag2x

mkochsch · Aug 6, 2008

From what I understand the dye sub inks traditionally from from solid-gas-solid with no liquid state. It's speculation as to whether they gain or lose any UV blocking potential during the transition. I doubt it but it's yet to be proved one way or the other. Something else worth noting is that there are UV "curable" inks which might hold some potential as well. One could foresee having to bath the neg in UV first prior to using as a mask for a print. Then again, maybe every blast of UV would change the density slightly (a bad thing). Give it a try and let us know.
~m

keffs · Aug 8, 2008

Why do we want higher UV density on the negative? Depending upon process, this does not transalte to higher density on a print. I have just started looking at mark Nelson's PDN, and if my understanding of it is correct, coloured inks are used to reduce the negative density range.

Steve

donbga · Aug 8, 2008

keffs said:
Why do we want higher UV density on the negative? Depending upon process, this does not transalte to higher density on a print. I have just started looking at mark Nelson's PDN, and if my understanding of it is correct, coloured inks are used to reduce the negative density range.

Steve

Steve,

Some processes such as Salt Printing or POP require a negative with a greater density range than other processes, hence the need for greater UV density. Some inks are capable of great UV density and some are somewhat anemic hence the desire of for inks that block UV more effectively.

The use of colored inks is a way of matching the density range of a specific process.

Don Bryant

lenslens · Sep 16, 2008

These inks may be of interest to members of this forum. They are also formulated for silk screen printers, to print onto film with high UV blocking characteristics from inkjetcarts.us here . I know I will eventually be giving them a try.

High UV Blocking Inks

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency