Abstract

Some of the advantageous characteristics of ultra violet ink are said to be the absence of pollution and reasonable energy consumption as well as rapid drying (curing). Little is published about physical properties or print quality. Printers require information in this regard because the reports which are presently available are not clear and lack in detail. If the printability of UV inks were equal to that of conventional offset ink, this ink would be close to an ideal ink. This work was under taken so as to compare the properties of ultraviolet ink with conventional offset ink. The inks selected for study were black sheet-fed offset. One type of ultraviolet ink and a similar type of conventional offset ink were used for comparison. Comparisons were made as to tack, specific gravity, density, printing sharpness, slur, resolution, gloss and dot gain. Since it was learned that the ultra violet ink rendered a lower print density than conventional offset ink when using the same amount of ink, the on-press experiment was performed in order to: 1. Compare both inks at equal solid ink density. 2. Compare both inks under equal press conditions. All variables applied to both inks were the same in order to make the conditions as similar as possible. The experimental results indicated that the tack of ultraviolet ink at 400 rpm. 90F was about the same as the tack of conventional offset ink during the first two minutes, but with increased time, the tack of ultraviolet ink increased more rapidly. The misting and flying of both inks were judged to be equal at 400 rpm.' The specific gravity of UV ink was higher than conventional offset ink and the optical density was shown to be lower when using the same amount of ink. This experimental result indicated that more volume and more weight of UV ink had to be used to produce an optical density equal to conventional offset ink. At equal solid ink density, UV ink had much more dot gain than conventional ink at both low and high ink film thickness. The two inks were significantly different in terms of printing sharpness, slur, resolution and gloss. Printing sharpness, resolution and gloss were significantly effected by changing ink film thickness. The conventional offset ink provided better printing sharpness, gloss, resolution and less slur than UV ink at both low and high ink levels, with the exception that the slur values were approximately equal at low ink level. At equal press conditions (unequal solid ink density), the dot gain of the two inks was not much different. But it was obvious that the more ink film thickness or density, the more dot gain with UV ink. The two inks were significantly different in printing sharpness and gloss but not significantly different in slur and resolution. The change in ink film thickness affected printing sharpness, gloss and resolution. At high ink film thickness, the UV ink had lower printing sharpness, gloss and resolution than the conventional offset ink. The change in ink film thickness did not have much effect on slur. This study indicates that UV ink needs further development in order to be comparable with the conventional offset ink in terms of print quality.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Printing ink--Testing; Offset printing

Publication Date

6-1-1975

Document Type

Thesis

Department, Program, or Center

School of Print Media (CIAS)

Advisor

Daniels, Chester

Advisor/Committee Member

Hacker, Robert

Advisor/Committee Member

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Comments

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works. Physical copy available through RIT's The Wallace Library at: Z247.S55

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RIT – Main Campus

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