For different environment of indoor and outdoor printing, Different type printer adopts different ink. So, the weather resistance of printing result is different also. Then, what’s the difference of weather resistance among some common ink? That’s what we are going to introduced.

According to different indoor and outdoor printing environment, we can divide ink into two types-indoor ink and outdoor ink. Such as water based ink, eco solvent ink, solvent ink, UV ink, sublimation ink etc.

Water based ink:

Water based ink is also called dye based ink，it is dissolved molecular level ink，this kind of ink is composite solution, the probability of clogging print head is very low. After printing, the materials absorb ink is easily. Advantages of water based ink including bright color, clear color levels and price is lower than pigment ink. However, the shortcoming of water based ink is poor weather resistance. for example，when indoor printer adopts water based ink, the printing result is not waterproof, and due to the dye molecule will be decomposed quickly under the irradiation of ultraviolet, that will leads the printing products used in outdoor will has obviously fading within one month. So, during printing, we need to laminate on the surface of products, then the products will has waterproof performance same as oil based Ink printing result.

Solvent ink:

Solvent ink is a oil based ink system which formed by the organic solvent or Solvent-based polymer film formers as the carrier, and the dye and pigment is dispersed in the inner of carrier. During the printout of printer, solvent ink can adjust the ink viscosity, surface tension and drying performance, the printing result has better weather resistance, printing products is waterproof and UV proof. What’s more, it is durable in the outdoor environment. Solvent ink has a huge market in large format outdoor printer industry. Although the volatility of solvent ink is easily to lead environmental pollution, so it’s development is limited in the European and American market. But in Chinese oil based ink market, solvent ink is still in the booming period. In order to solve the environmental pollution problem, a new type of ink, eco solvent ink has begun to develop rapidly. This type environmentally friendly ink will be the development direction of solvent inks in the future. 

Eco solvent ink:

Eco solvent ink is also called environmental protection solvent ink. It is popular in outdoor digital solvent printer in recent years. Eco solvent ink is a new type of outdoor solvent ink with high security, low volatility, slightly toxicity and high flash point. The development of eco solvent ink has not stopped . At present, some users have higher requirements to develop it into environmental protection outdoor solvent ink. It has the same weather resistance as solvent inks, and it is environmental. Eco solvent ink is the mainsteam ink for outdoor printer.

UV ink

In UV ink, pigment particles less than one microns in diameter. UV ink not contain volatile organic solvents and it’s viscosity very low, no pungent smell. After printing, UV ink dry in seconds, UV ink can be applied to various model print head UV flatbed printer and roll to roll UV printer in current market. UV ink has a higher weather resistance and solvent resistance. Due to UV ink and white color ink can be used together,  so, manufacturers can print out some beautiful embossed effect images. Firstly, use white ink to stack up into a embossed shape, then printing colored ink on it, finally the embossed images are finished . Meanwhile, UV ink can be compatible with all material, it has a very good adsorption for media. What’s more, UV ink printing products is durable, waterproof , uv proof and scratch proof.

Sublimation ink:

Sublimation ink (also known as thermal transfer ink) is made the low energy and easy sublimation disperse dyes into digital printing ink. Printing sublimation ink on the transfer paper, by heating can transfer image to chinaware, metal, silk, chemical fiber fabrics and other materials in the shortest time. It is very suitable for personalized printing demands of the market and environmental requirements. The transferred images of sublimation ink with bright color and abundant color levels, it can be comparable with the silk screen printing products. The difference is that transfer printing makes the ink be heated and sublimate under a high temperature , then ink will enter into surface of media, after desublimation, the image be formed. can form the image. So, sublimation ink will not form a layer of film on the surface of media, what’s more  the image will not fall off, will not crack and it has a strong light resistance, will not fade in a long time.

Edit by Carol