Water-Based Inkjet Ink Formulation for Low-Absorption Substrates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional water-based inkjet inks struggle with forming high-quality prints on low-absorption substrates due to poor ink wetting properties, leading to voids, color boundary bleeding, and aggregation irregularities, while also facing issues with storage stability and dischargeability from inkjet nozzles.
Innovation Solution
A water-based inkjet ink formulation incorporating a combination of a water-soluble organic solvent and surfactants with specific Hydrophile-Lipophile Balance (HLB) values, including acetylenediol-based and polysiloxane-based surfactants, to enhance wetting properties and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If water-based ink is used for printing on low-absorption substrates, then environmental friendliness and cost are improved, but wet spreadability and penetration into substrates deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent modifies the physical and chemical parameters of the water-based ink by adding specific surfactants and organic solvents to adjust surface tension and wetting properties, enabling the ink to spread effectively on low-absorption substrates while maintaining water-based composition for environmental compatibility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite ink formulation combining water, organic solvents (such as butanol), and surfactants (such as polyoxyethylene alkyl ether), where each component contributes specific properties to achieve both environmental compatibility and effective wetting on low-absorption substrates
2Reliability
If surfactant is added to improve wet spreadability, then wet spreadability is improved, but coalescence of ink droplets and aggregation irregularities worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent carefully adjusts the concentration parameters of surfactants and organic solvents to optimize the balance between wet spreadability and preventing droplet coalescence, using specific HLB value ranges to control surface tension without causing aggregation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces organic solvents as intermediary substances that mediate between the water-based ink and low-absorption substrates, facilitating controlled wetting while preventing direct coalescence of ink droplets of different hues
3Stability of the object's composition
If conventional water-based ink is used, then storage stability is poor, but dischargeability from inkjet nozzles is also problematic
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adjusts the viscosity and surface tension parameters of the ink through controlled addition of organic solvents and surfactants, ensuring the ink remains stable during storage while maintaining proper flow characteristics for discharge from inkjet nozzles
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 solution effectively prevents voids, color boundary bleeding, and aggregation irregularities, while maintaining excellent storage stability and dischargeability from inkjet nozzles, resulting in high-quality prints on low-absorption substrates.
Implementation Method 1
Because the water that represents the main solvent of water-based inks has a high surface tension, water-based inks tend to exhibit poor wet spreadability on the above types of low-absorption substrates
Implementation Method 2
the water-soluble organic solvent is a water-soluble organic solvent having an HLB value determined by Griffin's method of 8 or less
Data Source
AI summary
A water-based ink-jet which at least contains a pigment, a water-soluble organic solvent, and a surfactant (A), wherein the water-soluble organic solvent is a water-soluble organic solvent having an HLB value determined by Griffin's method of 8 or less, the water-soluble organic solvent being contained in an amount of 10-50 wt % with respect to the total weight of the water based ink-jet ink, and the surfactant (A) comprises an acetylenediol-based surfactant (a1) having an HLD value determined by Griffin's method of 3 or less.