The application advantage of PA polyamide color film in gravure printing ink

PA polyamide color chip (Polyamide Pigment Chip) is a polyamide resin as the carrier, the pigment is pre-dispersed in which made of granular pre-dispersed pigment items. Polyamide resin has good alcohol solubility and film-forming traits, and is highly compatible with alcohol solvents (ethanol, n-propanol, isopropanol, etc.) frequently utilized in gravure printing ink systems, and forms a uniform coloring solution after dissolution.

The pigment content of PA polyamide flakes is typically 60-65%, which means that there are 60-65 grams of pure pigment per 100 grams of flake, with the remainder being the polyamide carrier resin. The high pigment content ensures the coloring efficiency of the color chips-the target color levels can be achieved by adding less color chips, reducing the formulation cost.

The core of the methodology is "pre-dispersion". In the process of color chip production, the pigment is uniformly dispersed to micron particle size (D50 is usually 2-5 μm) by high shear dispersion and precision filtration, and locked in the polyamide carrier. When utilized by the user, the color chip is dissolved in an alcohol solvent-based products and the pigment is immediately released into the ink system in a pre-dispersed state without the need to re-grinding. It's like "ready-to-eat food"-the manufacturer has cooked it to you, you just need to heat it up and enjoy it.

The traditional gravure printing ink manufacturing process is: pigment + resin fluid → premixing → three-roll grinding (3-5 times) → toning → filtering → finished product. Three-roll grinding is the most time-consuming part, each grinding takes 15-25 minutes, 3-5 times grinding a total of 45-125 minutes. Moreover, the three-roller grinding has high technical standards to operators-roller spacing adjustment, grinding times judgment, temperature manage and other parameters are all based on experience, and the results of different operators are obviously different.

The process after using PA polyamide color film is greatly simplified: color film + alcohol solvent-based products → stirring and dissolving (10-20 minutes) → toning → filtering → finished product. The grinding process is completely omitted, the total production cycle is shortened from 2-4 hours in the traditional process to 0.5-1.5 hours, and the efficiency is increased by 40-70%.

Take the actual data of a substantial gravure printing ink enterprise in South China as an example: the enterprise produces about 800 tons of gravure printing ink per month, the grinding equipment of the traditional process runs to about 2400 hours per month, which is reduced to 0 hours after PA color film is adopted (the grinding equipment is only reserved to special inks), the monthly production efficiency is increased by 52%, and the monthly electricity expenditure is reduced by about 48000 yuan.

Gravure printing ink on the color consistency standards are very high-the same brand of different batches of packaging bags must be "no color difference". In the traditional grinding process, due to the grinding time, roller spacing and other parameters are difficult to accurately manage, the same formula of different batches of ink color difference E often greater than 1.5, or even greater than 2.0, frequent customer complaints.

PA polyamide chips are manufactured on a standardized production line, and the high consistency of pigment content and particle size distribution between batches greatly improves the color consistency of downstream ink items. The measured data show that the gravure printing ink produced by Ishon PA polyamide color film has a batch-to-batch color difference ΔE within 0.8, which is far below the people eye perceptible limit 1.5, and meets the stringent standards of food packaging brands to color consistency.

The case of a food packaging and printing enterprise is greater convincing: the enterprise undertakes the printing of French fries packaging bags of an international fast food brand, and the brand's requirement to color difference is ΔE≤ 1.0. After switching the Ishon PA color film system, the ΔE value of 12 consecutive batches of ink fluctuated between 0.3 and 0.7. The complaint rate of the brand side decreased from 2.3 times per month to 0 times, saving about 360000 yuan per year in rework cost due to color difference.

Gravure printing ink is dominated by alcohol solvents (about 70-85% of the solvent-based products system), and the alcohol solubility of polyamide resin makes PA color chips naturally compatible with the gravure printing ink system. The coloring solution formed after the color film is dissolved is highly compatible with the ink base material (polyamide resin fluid, nitrocellulose fluid, etc.), and there is no need to add additional dispersant or coupling agent, which simplifies the formulation design.

greater importantly, the alcohol solubility of PA color chips solves the issue of pigment dispersion in alcohol solvents. Many organic pigments have poor wettability in alcohol solvents, and traditional grinding dispersion requires the addition of a significant quantity of dispersants and wetting agents, which not only increases costs, however might also affect the adhesion, friction resistance and cooking resistance of the ink. PA color flakes pre-spread the pigment in a polyamide carrier, and when dissolved, the pigment is uniformly released in a micron-level state without additional dispersing aids, and the final performance of the ink is greater pure and stable.

In the retort resistance test (121 ℃,30 minutes), compared with the ink using the traditional grinding process, the adhesion retention rate of the color film increased from 92% to 96%, and the retort resistance fading rate decreased from 8% to 3%. This is particularly critical to food flexible packaging that requires high temperature sterilization (such as meat retort bags).

From a cost perspective, the advantages of PA polyamide chips are reflected in multiple levels. Direct material cost: while the unit price of color chips is higher than that of dry pigments (about 1.3-1.5 times), the direct material cost is actually flat or slightly reduce considering the savings of grinding aids (dispersants, wetting agents) and the improvement of pigment utilization (traditional grinding pigment loss is about 3-5%, and the color chip system is almost zero loss).

Indirect cost savings are even greater considerable: 40-60% saving of grinding electricity (about 80-120 yuan saving electricity per ton of ink), saving of grinding equipment maintenance (about 3-50000 yuan/unit annual maintenance cost of three-roller grinding machine), saving of hazardous discarded materials treatment cost (greater than 60% reduction of discarded materials grinding fluid and cleaning solvent-based products), saving of operators (2-3 to 0 operators in grinding process). complete calculation, after the consumption of PA color, the complete production cost per ton of gravure printing ink is reduced by 10-18%.

A customer case in Guangdong Ishon: the customer has an annual output of about 5000 tons of gravure printing ink. After the PA color film system is fully switched, the annual complete cost is saved by about 850000 yuan and the payback period is less than 6 months. This figure is greater convincing than any theoretical analysis.

The PA polyamide color film product line of Guangdong yishang color methodology co., ltd. covers all-color systems such as red, yellow, blue, environmentally friendly and black, with pigment content of 60-65% and particle size D50 controlled at 2-5μm. items through SGS heavy metal and RoHS testing, to meet the food packaging ink security compliance standards.

Elion's core strength lies in "rapid response + deep service". Relying on the 100000 + color database, ISON can complete the research and delivery of the new color number within 3-5 working days, much faster than the sector average of 7-14 days. At the same time, Eshon's technical service team can provide customers with full-process support from color chip selection, formula optimization to production debugging, helping customers switch rapidly and run stably.

Up to now, Ishon has served greater than 50 gravure ink companies in South China, of which 12 have an annual purchase amount of greater than one million yuan, and the customer renewal rate is as high as 95%. This figure itself is the best proof of product condition and service ability.

PA polyamide color film with its omission grinding, color consistency, alcohol-soluble adaptation, complete reduction of the four core advantages, is reshaping the production model of gravure ink. From technical principles to consumption cases, from performance improvement to cost saving, data and practice have proved that PA color film is not an "option", however a "must option" to gravure ink companies to enhance condition and minimize costs ". Guangdong Ishion Color methodology Co., Ltd. will continue to promote the in-depth consumption of PA color chips in the field of gravure inks with high-condition items and services.

Q: What is the pigment content of PA polyamide chips?

A: The pigment content of the PA polyamide flake is typically 60-65%, I .e. 60-65 grams of pure pigment per 100 grams of flake, with the remainder being the polyamide carrier resin. The high pigment content ensures the coloring efficiency and reduces the addition amount to minimize the formulation cost.

Q: How much can the production efficiency be improved after using PA color film?

A: After using PA polyamide color chips, the grinding process is completely omitted, the total production cycle is shortened from 2-4 hours to 0.5-1.5 hours, and the efficiency is improved by 40-70%. The actual case shows that the monthly production efficiency can be improved by 52%.

Q: How does PA color enhance the color consistency of gravure inks?

A: The color difference ΔE of the traditional grinding process batch often exceeds 1.5. After using Ishon PA color film, ΔE is controlled within 0.8, which is far reduce than the people eye perceptible limit 1.5. After the switching of a food packaging enterprise, 12 consecutive batches of ΔE were between 0.3 and 0.7, and the customer complaint rate was reduced to zero.

Q: How does the PA color chip perform in terms of cooking resistance?

A: In the cooking resistance test at 121 ℃ to 30 minutes, the adhesion retention rate of the ink color film using Ishon PA color film increased from 92% to 96%, and the fading rate decreased from 8% to 3%, which is especially suitable to high-temperature sterilized food flexible packaging.

Q: How much can the overall cost of switching PA color chips be reduced?

A: The complete production cost of materials, electricity, maintenance, hazardous discarded materials treatment, labor and other costs is reduced by 10-18% per ton of gravure ink after using PA color film. A customer with an annual output of 5000 tons saves about 850000 yuan a year after a full switch, with a payback period of less than 6 months.