What are pigment dispersions?
Pigment dispersions are dry pigments dispersed in a liquid material that are stabilized using resins or surfactants/additives to minimize re-agglomeration. In this phenomenon, the pigments come back together to form “lumps.” The liquid material may be different solvents, or resins that are liquid at room temperature – but maybe the most important and most widely used are the water-based dispersions.
By carefully choosing the additives and the process parameters we can achieve fine particle sizes having a narrow distribution. The reduction and normalization of pigment size gives several benefits: stabilizes the particles in a homogenous dispersion, prevents settling of particles, maximizes fluorescence intensity.
We achieved high pigment concentrations in our dispersions ensuring high fluorescent intensity of the resulting ink without the need of unnecessary “dilution” (reducing viscosity) of the final product.
What are the advantages of water-based fluorescent pigment dispersions?
The security printing industry sets high quality standards regarding fluorescent inks, high fluorescent intensity of the prints is essential. This can only be provided by using inks having fine and evenly distributed fluorescent pigment content.
Thus, the dry pigment is subjected to grinding or milling (to a particle size finer than 1.5 µm, d90) and mixing with water and additives to make a dispersion.
The resulting dispersion may be directly used to produce paints, inks, and varnishes, thus eliminating the need for further grinding or milling, or investing into an otherwise unnecessary equipment. Also, it reduces risks like contamination from airborne powders. No need for effluent treatment or powder disposal!
With other words: our partners using our water-based dispersions can spare handling and processing powder formed pigments, that is not only difficult and requires expensive equipment and trained personnel but can be dangerous to health.
Our water-based dispersions contain high pigment concentrations (50%), resulting in far easier ink formulations. Also, our dispersions keep the best qualities of our fluorescent pigments: lightfastness, intensity, chemical fastness, a wide range of vivid, unique fluorescent colors, and optimal particle size for use in water-based inks, paints, coatings, and varnishes.
Our pigment dispersions are microbiologically stabilized, and in case of sedimentation, they can easily be redispersed with standard mixer. Moreover, as they contain non-ionic additives, they have long-time stability and are compatible with slightly basic or acidic additives.
Our water-based pigment dispersions are environmentally friendly: they do not use other solvents, thus reducing contamination, and are VOC-free and APEO-free.
The application of the dispersions is as simple as mixing them into the required solution prepared by the ink manufacturer. No time and money consuming devices and processes needed.
We recommend our dispersions for water-based flexographic (“flexo”) or screen printing inks as well as for water based coatings and adhesives.
If you want to spare time and money for your company without making compromises, the water-based UV fluorescent dispersions of Luminochem are the perfect choice. Easy and safe to handle, and an ECO-friendly solution for those who are dedicated to make sustainable products.
What are the applications of UV fluorescent dispersions?
Our fluorescent dispersions have been designed for security purposes, for making fluorescent security inks.
They are virtually invisible on paper or on other substrates. However, on exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light, they emit visible light of a characteristic color. Therefore, these dispersions are useful for coding and marking purposes and are recommended to be used for security applications, such as in currencies, checks, banknotes, passports, and other documents where security is essential. They are also perfect for using in brand protection solutions. In these cases, transparent pigments are used to put fluorescent marks, images, or hidden texts. Water based dispersions can also be used for special fluorescent coating of security papers.
Check out Luminochem’s selection of water-based UV fluorescent dispersions and find out their exact specifications (particle size, thermal stability, pigment content etc.). If you cannot find the matching color for your needs, Luminochem offers custom dispersions made from our extensive variety of visually fascinating, bright colored UV fluorescent pigments.
