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Printing Ink Solutions for Packaging Decoration

At this year’s Labelexpo Marabu was showcasing its advanced label and direct printing solutions for the cosmetic, food, and pharmaceutical industry, including its well-established ink series for rotary and flatbed screen printing. Label and packaging designs with screen or digitally printed haptic effects played an increasingly important role among the visitors.

High-quality no-label-look with tactile effects

Product packaging needs high-class labeling for decoration, inscription, or designation – and sophisticated tactile effects are in high demand. Ultra RotaScreen UVRS has been developed for all common rotary label printing machines, and is perfectly suited for combination printing with UV letterpress and UV offset. The ink series comes with an Ultra RotaScreen UVRS 912 Relief Varnish which is highly reactive, transparent, and flexible, suited especially for relief printing with a suitable stencil. The transparent tactile printing varnish enables bubble-free 3D effects at a favourable price. Even more extraordinary effects are possible by adding colour, metallic, or glitter pigments. When combined with UV flexo printing, Ultra RotaScreen UVSF is the right choice. The ink is silicone-free which ensures the compatibility with the overprinted UV flexo ink system, including high opaque shades like the Ultra RotaScreen UVSF 173 Opaque White for highest standards.

Stylishly matt or high–gloss inks for flatbed label printing

Ultra Star-M UVSM features matt colour shades for noble product designs. It is used for flatbed label printing. The highly reactive Ultra Star-M UVSM 181 Opaque Black shows an excellent receptivity when overprinting hot stamping and thermotransfer films. If it is used on ‘stop-and-go’ machines, no stripes arise in the printed ink film due to UV-curing. The best matt effect is achieved either with a 150-31 or 165-31 mesh. Those who prefer a brilliant, high-gloss effect should choose the Ultra Pack UVC. The ink series is highly reactive and perfectly suited for the ennobling of roll-to-roll labels on flatbed screen printing machines.

Relief varnish for flatbed screen printing machines

The ennobling of prints with UV varnishes is very popular. At this year’s Labelexpo visitors had the chance to watch a Live Print demonstration of Marabu’s UV Gloss Varnish UVGL 7 on a flatbed screen printing machine of the Italian manufacturer Cartes. UVGL 7 is a tactile varnish perfectly suited for relief text and solid areas thanks to its very high ink deposit and constant ink layer. Beyond optical and tactile effects, UV varnishes provide excellent protection against chemical and mechanical stress.   

Inkjet metallic shades with liquid coating protection

For stunning digitally printed metallic effects, Marabu showcased its new solvent-based Mara® Jet DI-SX Plug&Print inkjet ink for the EcoSolMax 2 generation of Roland printers. DI-SX is perfectly suited for fast printing speeds and roll-to-roll print jobs. The high-grade pigmented ink system provides lots of different silver, gold, bronze and other pearlescent metallic effects as well as a nickel-free yellow and Light Black. In combination with the glossy water-based Mara® Shield WA-FXG liquid coatings the digitally printed metallic effects are fully resistant to abrasion. Mara® Shield WA-FXG can either be applied automatically by roller coater or manually using a roller, spray gun, or other applicators.

Upcoming regulations for “low migration inks”

So-called „low-migration inks” are required and used for the decoration of food packaging. They are supposed to minimize the risk of components migrating from the UV-cured ink film into the foodstuff. Being aware of the responsibility as an ink manufacturer, Marabu will meet legal requirements with its packaging inks. But the ink is just one piece of the puzzle. A printing ink is never absolutely suitable for all food contact materials. In every case the unique combination of printing ink, process conditions and substrate must be considered. Please contact Marabu for an individual assessment to determine which ink suits your specific needs.

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