Some factors affecting ink transfer in gravure printing

Many factors affect the print quality and ink transfer. These are either machine factors, paper factors, or Ink factors. The aim of this work was to find out to what extent are the amount of ink transferred influenced by the previously mentioned factors. Atomic absorption was used for quantitatively measuring the amount of ink transferred. Copper phthalocyanine pigment was chosen. The amount of copper detected is taken as an indication of the amount of ink transferred. The results indicated that the amount of ink transferred decreased as the printing speed increased. It was expected to be increased with increasing printing pressure. But It was found that the amount of ink transferred to supercalendered paper decreased with increasing printing pressure. The amount of ink transferred increased as the ink viscosity increased. The type of ink resin was found to have a considerable effect on the amount of ink transferred.