Has it ever occurred to you that whilst many people use recycled paper as a means of helping the environment, the ink and printing processes they use may not be? Thankfully, the necessity of this is on the down-turn because waterless printing is becoming more popular by the day – not only for its environmental benefits, but also for the exceptional quality and enhanced details rendering that is achievable.
Akzo Nobel inks introduced a new waterless offset ink product range at Ipex ’98 called Lito Flora Dry, which not only produces much finer work and higher quality results, but also has environmental benefits. These benefits have gained Lito Flora Dry a 0 point rating in the Swedish Swan environmental marking system. The ink range, which is vegetable oil based, has many other advantages apart from being environmentally friendly. It features excellent heat stability and good dot reproduction. It is press ready and can be used straight from the tin, producing better print quality and consistency of print.
Waterless printing, which is gaining momentum across Europe, is an offset lithographic printing system that eliminates the water or dampening system used in conventional printing. As the water is eliminated from the printing process, so are the chemicals that are mixed into the water in order to optimize the fount solution. The most widely used chemical is isopropanol (IPA). Waterless printing requires a special silicone rubber coated printing plate, special waterless inks and preferably, a means of temperature control on press. However, waterless printing negates the need for printers to balance the delicate relationship between water and ink, thereby significantly reducing waste and time. The elimination of fountain solution reduces the release of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) into the atmosphere and reduces the consumption of water and IPA. Computer to plate waterless printing promises faster job throughput and lower overall printing costs, which makes the technology suitable for shorter runs. This method of printing is in popularity, not only for its environmental savings, but also for the quality of the end results.
Popularity is increasing so much that there are now specific high-tech presses being introduced that are exclusively designed to print waterless computer to plate, such as the Heidelberg Quickmaster DI 46-4.
Benefits of waterless printing include consistent brighter colour, with the elimination of the vagaries of the dampening system you get more consistent colour throughout the run; low dot gain, the inherent low dot gain of waterless printing lets printers run higher screen rulings; and better saturation.
Akzo Nobel Inks realized the potential for waterless printing technology some time ago and as part of its environmentally conscious ethos, began research into the development of a new waterless offset ink. Akzo Nobel Inks has a strong environmental policy, with accreditation to ISO 9001 and 14001 standards. At an early stage of the development process, it was recognized that this new ink series needed to be based on vegetable oils in order to meet the high environmental standards in Scandinavian countries.
The weak spot of waterless offset inks has been the heat stability. When the heat in the press increases, the viscosity of the ink decreases. This often leads to toning problems. Thanks to an innovative resin system, Lito Flora Dry performs very well, even when the temperature of the press increases. The search for new solutions and raw materials uncovered some unusual results from which the waterless printer benefits when using Lito Flora Dry. When it was first introduced, Lito Flora Dry was tested in a Heidelberg Quickmaster DI 46-4 at the Heidelberg Demo Centre in Germany. The ink was tested at various temperatures (21 to 31C), printing a range of jobs on different types of paper. The overall results were very positive, with the conclusion that Lito Flora Dry a is very flexible, stable ink, well suited to the DI 46-4.
As Akzo Nobel Inks states: ‘Lito Flora Dry is an ultimate ink for waterless printing – thINK excellence!’