Aqueous Inkjet Ink Composition for Non-Absorbent Media Drying
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aqueous inkjet ink compositions face issues with poor drying properties, smearing, and cissing on non-absorbent print media like coated paper and polyvinyl chloride sheets, along with stability concerns during storage and ejection.
Innovation Solution
An ink composition containing specific surfactants with HLB values and a water-soluble solvent with a boiling point of 170-250°C, along with colloidal silica in a 0.05-2% by mass ratio, to enhance stability, ejection, and cissing resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional aqueous inkjet ink composition is used on non-absorbent print media, then the ink can be easily ejected and stored, but the drying property of the coating film decreases causing smearing and cissing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the chemical composition parameters of the ink by incorporating colloidal silica (0.01-5% by mass) and specific surfactants with defined HLB values. This compositional modification enables the ink to achieve both good storage stability and improved drying properties on non-absorbent media, resolving the contradiction between ease of storage/ejection and prevention of smearing/cissing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite ink formulation by combining colloidal silica particles with alkali-soluble resin, surfactants, and water-soluble solvents. This composite structure provides mechanical stability to prevent colloidal silica aggregation while simultaneously improving the coating film's drying properties and cissing resistance on coated paper and polyvinyl chloride sheets.
2Stability of the object's composition
If colloidal silica is added to improve mechanical stability, then aggregation of colloidal silica may occur during use or storage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses surfactants as intermediary substances to prevent aggregation of colloidal silica particles. The surfactant (A) with HLB value of 3 or more and less than 10, combined with surfactant (B) with HLB value of 10 or more and 20 or less, acts as a mediator that maintains colloidal stability during storage and use, resolving the contradiction between achieving mechanical stability and preventing aggregation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes the concentration of colloidal silica to 0.01-5% by mass and carefully controls the HLB values of the surfactant system. These parameter changes ensure that the colloidal silica remains dispersed and stable during storage while providing the desired mechanical stability to the ink composition.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The composition achieves improved storage stability, ejection stability, and cissing resistance, with enhanced drying properties on non-absorbent media.
Implementation Method 1
the permeation drying of the water-soluble solvent of an aqueous inkjet ink composition is less likely to occur, and thus there are problems that the decrease in the drying property of the coating film causes the decrease in image quality, for example, smearing
Implementation Method 2
Addition of the surfactant (A) having a low HLB value reduces the surface tension of the ink and suppresses entrainment of bubbles from the nozzle surface
Implementation Method 3
inclusion of a specific amount of colloidal silica improves the adsorption to the surface of the base material and suppresses aggregation of droplets, and thus improves cissing resistance
Data Source
AI summary
An aqueous inkjet ink composition containing a pigment, an alkali-soluble resin, a surfactant, a water-soluble solvent, colloidal silica, and water, in which the surfactant includes a surfactant having an HLB value equal to or greater than 3 and less than 10 and a surfactant having an HLB value of 10-20 (inclusive), the water-soluble solvent has a boiling point of 170-250° C. (inclusive) at 1 atm, and the percentage of the colloidal silica in the aqueous inkjet ink composition is 0.05-2 mass % (inclusive). The aqueous inkjet ink composition has excellent storage stability, mechanical stability, discharge stability, coating film drying properties, and cissing resistance.