Studying on the water pick-up characteristics of UV curable offset ink and the fountain solution without IPA ☆

In UV curable offset printing, ink-water balance is difficult to control, especially in using fountain solution with IPA. The studying on fountain solution without IPA is an essential problem to meet the requirements of the friendly working environment and the UV curable offset technology. In this paper, water pick-up characteristics of the different color UV curable offset inks were determined using the Duke Emulsification Tester. The influence of BCS concentration and process color UV curable offset inks on the water pick-up characteristics were tested using Analysis of variance (ANOVA). Moreover, the obtained fountain solution is compared with the commercial fountain solution in the emulsification capacity. Results show that the fountain solution of BCS 15 % concentration forms the stable emulsification system with all process color UV curable offset inks. The differences of BCS concentrations and color UV curable offset inks have different water pick-up characteristics (p < 0,05). The water pick-up characteristics of three color inks as C, M, and Y with the obtained fountain solution of BCS 15 % concentration are around 25 %, meanwhile, the water pick-up characteristic of Black (K) ink is approximately 20 % after half measuring time. Finally, the obtained solution of BCS 15 % concentration is equivalent to the commercial fountain solution (COMBIFIX-XL) in the emulsification capacity of the inks.