Union Ink

[whitewater]

When I am printing I go through a lot of thought...HAHa!...I do have a question though..


I was printing with Union Deep Marine (plus-5030) and the consistency (viscosity??)  is like water...reminds me of the Aurora Plus....

Why is this? The black isn't like this or other colors...

What is the correlating factor for yore viscosity?

I pretty much know nothing of ink makeup, but was curious...

Thanks ink guys!

[tonypep]

Erin can weigh in here of course but you'll find that in most ink systems Marine is the weakest and lightest pigment with a short body. It's opposite with regards to these characteristics is yellow. This why yellows tend to be stringy and marine thin and runny.

[DanK]

I have no helpful info, but a question myself...  Has anyone noticed that magenta colored inks have a super strange smell that other colors of inks don't have?  When I noticed this more we were using Union plastisols...

[ebscreen]

Magenta PC in particular has a very strange smell.

I love how yellow inks tend to smell citrusy, and whites like doughnuts. (titanium dioxide?)

My girlfriend always wants to eat certain color inks. The pastels that look like cake frosting.

[Prosperi-Tees]

Pigments that make up Deep blues and magentas are very thin because of the lack of titanium dioxide, I think if the manu does not add thickeners it will be very runny.

[Colin]

I was printing with Union Deep Marine (plus-5030) and the consistency (viscosity??)  is like water...reminds me of the Aurora Plus....

Why is this? The black isn't like this or other colors...

What is the correlating factor for yore viscosity?

A lot of the rheological properties that you see in inks are a direct result of the pigments properties. 

The ultramarine pigment when processed is very runny.  The blue pigments that are on the green and blue side (used in standard blue inks like royal and light blues) are a bit more viscus so those inks have more body.  Yellows and oranges are very stringy and thicker.  Reds are like the blue green and red shades.  Green is a middle ground for rheology and extremely dark and dense when in pigment form.  Black pigment is a pure carbon black and is very thick and clumpy when processed.  White pigment is of course Titanium Dioxide and is fairly runny when processed.  However it also has high oil absorbtion values, so when added unprocessed during manufacturing it can cause the ink to "body up" considerably.  It's a nice side effect so you don't have to use many thickeners.

Magenta PC in particular has a very strange smell.

Magenta pigment has a very distinctive odor.  And you typically need to add a lot of pigment as it's strength is very low.  Just like the Ultramarine pigments.  But the Magenta pigments, unlike the ultramarine, are thicker and a bit stringy.

That's the short answer

[whitewater]

Thanks guys!

Its just something I was wondering about..

[terryei]

Magenta PC in particular has a very strange smell.

I love how yellow inks tend to smell citrusy, and whites like doughnuts. (titanium dioxide?)

My girlfriend always wants to eat certain color inks. The pastels that look like cake frosting.

Are you serious?  Does red ink taste like cherry or strawberry?
Terry

[Colin]

Magenta PC in particular has a very strange smell.

I love how yellow inks tend to smell citrusy, and whites like doughnuts. (titanium dioxide?)

My girlfriend always wants to eat certain color inks. The pastels that look like cake frosting.

Are you serious?  Does red ink taste like cherry or strawberry?
Terry

Depending on the ink, there will be some scents added to mask it's odor.  Doughnuts are a new one for me though....

[ZooCity]

I always thought Magenta smelled vaguely "fishy".  Anyone know where the pigments are derived from by color?  Like, what's ground up to make 'em?

[Colin]

I always thought Magenta smelled vaguely "fishy".  Anyone know where the pigments are derived from by color?  Like, what's ground up to make 'em?

I think it's the same pigment/pigment family they use in Salmon Eggs.  That's what I have always associated it with. 

I don't remember what the base organic/inorganic compounds are to make the pigments from.  But it's an easy google search away.

[screenxpress]

Black pigment is a pure carbon black and is very thick and clumpy when processed. 

Colin, I use mostly Union products, but have switched off trying other inks.

I've always found Union Ultrasoft black to be extremely runny once you start printing.  To help with that, I've mixed 50/50 Union Ultrasoft Black with QCM black to get a medium body.  I find QCM black to be quite stiff.

Thoughts?

[jsheridan]

Easy fix for those pesky runny inks..

Add some thickening paste @ 3-5% weight.

[Colin]

Black pigment is a pure carbon black and is very thick and clumpy when processed. 

Colin, I use mostly Union products, but have switched off trying other inks.

I've always found Union Ultrasoft black to be extremely runny once you start printing.  To help with that, I've mixed 50/50 Union Ultrasoft Black with QCM black to get a medium body.  I find QCM black to be quite stiff.

Thoughts?

Yea, all the Ultra Soft inks are very runny.  They actually need to be low viscocity in order to do it's designed job properly.  All ultra soft inks are designed to be driven into the garment, like chino/fashion soft/softee base, to simulate the waterbase ink feel.

My favorite printing black was the LFP-901.  Is was creamy, held an amazing edge and dot definition when printed, and was very opaque.  It just didn't want to print wet/on/wet.
   
The other QCm blacks are definitely a bit on the thicker side.  However, there are a LOT of people who want a thicker bodied black (for a myriad of reasons).  Which is why we never changed anything in those inks.

The benefits to having an ink that is thicker/shorter bodied are many (halftones/detail/image resolution reasons).  But the ink also needs to have low drag and still "slump" in front of the squeegee blade when at rest.

You probably have purchased the XOLB-901 black?  You have done exactly what I would have, if I had my own shop.  Except I would cut it with the Softee Black from QCM. 

[screenxpress]

Yep, XOLB Black.

Thanks for the info.