Prepare for the future

Preparing for the future

(preparing for the future)

ink grinding machine manufacturers look for solutions for energy curing inks and inkjet inks

in order to maintain success in the industry, equipment manufacturers must have a keen insight into the progress and development of users; Ink manufacturers need to know the needs of printers and produce appropriate ink products according to their needs

in recent years, the printing ink industry has two areas with the strongest growth momentum: one is energy curing ultraviolet (UV) ink and electron beam (EB) ink; Another area is inkjet and digital ink

it is always true for equipment manufacturers to constantly improve products to meet customers' technological innovation. Similarly, grinding machine manufacturing companies are also trying to improve their technology to serve ink manufacturers

in terms of the requirements for grinding, the frequency spectrum of inkjet ink is exactly opposite to that of energy curing ink. UV inks need high viscosity, while inkjet inks need low viscosity and fine particle distribution, because this kind of ink must match the size of the print head

at the same time, more and more mainstream ink manufacturers are facing various characteristic needs put forward by printers, which also leads to the improvement of the components of the pressure testing machine and how to reduce the error of the pressure testing machine. In this way, many new technologies have emerged, enabling ink manufacturers to produce better products

inkmill for inkjet inks

as mentioned above, at present, the two main development areas in the printing ink industry are inkjet inks and uv/eb inks, among which inkjet inks and digital inks are the leading ones, with an estimated annual growth rate of more than 20%. Considering the continuous improvement of inkjet technology and the obvious benefits on digital printing machines, the rapid growth of inkjet inks is not surprising. Wendy rogalinski, manager of MFIC's market information department, said, "digital ink and electronic ink are developing constantly, and customers' requirements are getting higher and higher, because only in this way can they maintain a strong competitive rate ≥ 0.05% FS."

in order to operate efficiently, inkjet inks must have low viscosity and fine particle size, and inkmill manufacturers are trying to meet these two requirements. Kirsten Grosse, sales manager of Buhler company, said, "the viscosity of inkjet ink is very low, and in order to pass through the nozzle smoothly, the ink particles must be ground very fine and very uniform."

John sneeringer, technical director of premier mill, also showed great interest in digital printing. At present, many new formulas with medium and low viscosity have been developed, which are very suitable for grinding with Premier's supermills and submersibles

sneeringer said, "our customers need fine grinding media as small as 0.1mm, which can be applied not only to inks, but also to automotive coatings and conductive ceramic products."

the dispersant and medium grinding machine produced by Morehouse Cowles division of MFIC company can reduce the particle size to 1 micron. If there is more demand for digital ink and electronic ink, the microfluidics processors equipment manufactured by the microfluidics division of the company can produce submicron pigment based and dye based inks. With these processors, all inks are pushed into an "interactive box" with a diameter smaller than human hair, and the ink particles are cut and collided inside. Microfluidics' unique technology is applied in many patented products, and some products produced by customers must use the company's equipment

Mr. Harry way, manager of grinding dispersion research and Development Department of Netzsch Co., Ltd., said, "Netzsch is in a leading position in the inkjet processing technology market. Our patented Netzsch medium separation system can easily use grinding medium materials less than 200 microns. Netzsch's experience in this field has further improved the grinding of non-metallic structural materials; the Voyager control system is used for process control, which greatly reduces downtime and process repeatability. In the Netzsch product production line, the machine's wide support The table can be suitable for the rheological properties of each product to ensure the correct match between the mixture and the grinding system. "

gerry Chait, vice president and COO of Inoue USA, said, "using standard puncture inking machines and small-size ceramic media can successfully obtain submicron particle sizes."

energy curing ink

as early as the 1960s, UV ink was only an idea in the minds of some innovative ink pioneers. And in the following decades, the development speed of UV printing is very limited

however, in recent years, the formulation of UV inks and their environmental advantages have led to dramatic growth in UV printing, which in turn has promoted the rapid development of energy curing inks. In recent years, the annual growth rate of ink sales has reached double digits. With the increasing demand for this kind of ink, the competition among ink manufacturers has also intensified

therefore, ink manufacturers have to improve their products, and the production equipment plays a key role in the whole process. Many inking machine manufacturers are developing new equipment to produce this kind of high viscosity ink

Mr. Chait said, "When we talked with the ink company, they said they wanted to improve the production process of ink, which is what we have always expected, because we are testing UV ink, and have achieved great success in automatic storage. We are studying the future needs of our customers. The upgraded version of our spike mill device is specially designed to deal with UV ink and other high viscosity inks, and can also deal with various viscosity grades Adhesives and liquids. "

grosse believes that: "UV inks have high viscosity and are very sensitive to temperature. At low temperatures, they can obtain good curing. Usually, the three roller inking machine is used to grind UV inks, because the ball inking machine produces uncontrollable thermal reaction and polymerization. However, the grinding performance of the ball inking machine is better than the three roller inking machine, because some toners, such as purple, green and magenta pigments, are difficult to grind and disperse 。 Our K series inkmill has a cone-shaped grinding box with a larger cooling range, which can be used to process these inks. "

similarly, the traditional three roller inking machine cannot obtain the necessary fineness of low viscosity products, but it can be used with other inking machines to help obtain some necessary ink characteristics

Ms. Grosse said, "their company is still using the three roller inking machine, but after the ball inking machine, the ink can have better gloss and color intensity. This operation can be passed at one time."

Mr. way said that Netzsch entered the UV market through Nkm or Inka inker, which improved the temperature control system, medium separation mechanism and cleaning mechanism on the basis of the well-known Netzsch John inker. The device was first launched in Frankfurt, Germany, in May 2000, and has successfully occupied a place in the viscous UV ink market in Europe

other trends

not all developments in the printing ink industry are related to energy curing inks and inkjet inks. Other ink systems have their own unique needs, and inking machine manufacturers are also trying to meet their needs

Mr. way said that Netzsch is providing more and more automatic production systems and monitoring systems. The design of these complete systems includes automatic premixing, grinding and separation ventilation devices, whether they are used for the cyclic processing of liquid inks or for the continuous processing of viscous inks

Mr. sneeringer said, "customers' demand for high efficiency often drives our progress. Every customer wants to use their inking machine to produce more inks per hour."

Mr. Todd kritzer, sales manager of Kady international, said, "ink manufacturers hope to streamline the production process to produce high-quality products. They often achieve this goal through pre grinding."

cooperate with customers

in many cases, ink manufacturers have their own unique enterprise projects. At this time, inking machine manufacturers need to examine whether they can meet the needs of ink manufacturers

Mr. way also introduced that Netzsch is also in a leading position in customer service and technical services. Netzsch continues to strive to consolidate its position in the industry and expand its global business operations, so that the services and technical support it establishes in a market can reach the same level worldwide. In the North American market, Netzsch has a service and technical support team, which is incomparable to other manufacturers. Netzsch understands the manufacturer's demand for outsourced services and maintenance, continues to expand its global service and technical support team, and increases additional domestic supply. Netzsch's latest plan is to build a 14000 square foot laboratory and Technology Center building for customer testing and training to maintain its position in the market

new products

at present, the research on the structure of printing ink has made new progress and continues to meet new needs

in order to meet the precision requirements of inkjet inks, Buhler launched zr120 ball inking machine in Europe last year, and has entered the American market this year. Ms. Grosse said, "zr120 equipment mainly produces low viscosity products that need high fineness and are used in the submicron field. The grinding medium must be very small. Zr120 equipment uses balls of 0.2mm to 0.8mm. This enables us to obtain submicron fineness more efficiently."

Mr. way said, "considering the overall processing system, Netzsch's latest concept for viscous and UV inks is HVS (hydraulic) vacuum pigment premixing, new Nkm inking machine grinding and new three drum inking machine glazing. This whole process can be completed through Netzsch filling system."

Mr. sneeringer of premier Mill said, "we have improved the high-energy grinding device, and are studying a new recycling grinding system, which will be available soon. We believe that these high-energy devices will have a great response. Our new product, inferior mill, is used to produce small-scale special batch products, and can constantly change colors."

mfic has developed m-140k laboratory Microfluidizer processor, which can be processed and produced under the pressure of 40000 psi. It is a kind of equipment for ink and digital ink processing and has been more widely used

microfluidics guarantees that its production will increase proportionally

Mr. kritzer said, "Kady mills has replaced many high-speed dispersants. Kady mills' products have better grinding performance, less grinding times, and better color effect. Kady mills can completely grind materials at one time." Mr. kritzer further introduced that "the new Kady continuous operation equipment is an on-line production equipment. This equipment can be easily connected to the whole production line, or form a circulation cycle with the traditional pre mixing equipment, which also increases the total amount of pre mixing and grinding."

unio process, the inventor and developer of attritor technology, launched