[fuwei]

Hello guys....
I would like to know what is ink made from.
What is used to make ink ?
When ink is used on a paper, then few drops of water are drop on the paper. We shall observe the ink spread on the paper. Why ?
Chemical engineer that work on this is in which field ?

[P]

Hi,

as far as I know, Inks are similar to paints in their  make up. Certain performance inks will differ with requirements (e.g. inkjet printer inks) but are basically:

Pigment for colour.
Polymer in solution/dispersion to bind the pigment together and to get adhesion to substrate.
Dispersing agents (surfactants) to disperse the pigment in binder solution/dispersion and to lower surface tension of the ink.
Drying agent for faster drying.
Rheology modifiers for viscosity controll.

[ARGOS++]

Dear Fuwei;

It depends on the application, if for home printing, news papers, etc. etc.

But there is several in common, except the news paper:
The Inks in general are of pure or mixed Dyes (NOT Pigments! – Why? ), mostly Azo-Dyes, or Metal-Complexes.
The later are not so preferred anymore, because their toxicology.
Dark Inks are mostly made of a mixture, that’s why you can, more or less, separate the individuals by slowly adding water to the center of the drop, because not all dyes have the identical “travelling speed” This gives you a first idea, how the mixture is composed.

Chemical Engineers who works on such material are “Dyers” with a special knowledge for physical parameters, especial for modern printers (drops on demand, jets, etc.), because the viscosity, color, stability and other parameters.

I hope it gives you at least an Idea.

Good Luck!
                    ARGOS⁺⁺

[P]

ARGOS++ -- It depends on the what you are after  -  a dye is generally used for a solution and a pigment for a suspension. Both are valid. Do some reading/search the net.


PS  -  why do you ALWAYS write in multi colour?  We have exclamation marks, bold type and other punctuation marks to infer different inflection in word, not to mention the smileys  -  NO-ONE uses colour - it is ridiculous and annoying to read  -  even when your content is good and valid, it makes for an irritating read.

[fuwei]

Dear Argos,

But i realized that coloured ink will also separate when water is drops on it.
Is it only dark ink which is mixed dye will separate when water is drops on it ?
Coloured ink is pure or mixed dye ?

[AWK]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink
http://realscience.breckschool.org/upper/fruen/files/Enrichmentarticles/files/IronGallInk/IronGallInk.html

[P]

That wiki link gives a good overview of what ink is made from actually - it lists a couple of componants I failed to:

"An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for coloring a surface to produce an image or text. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen or brush or quill. Thicker inks, in paste form, are used extensively in letterpress and lithographic printing.

Ink is a complex medium, comprising solvents, pigments, dyes, resins, lubricants, solubilizers, particulate matter, fluorescers, and other materials. The components of inks serve many purposes; the ink’s carrier, colorants, and other additives are used to control flow, thickness, and appearance of the ink when dry.

Pigmented inks are advantageous when printing on paper because the pigment stays on the surface of the paper. This is desirable because more ink on the surface means that less ink needs to be used to create the same intensity of color.

Pigments are the main components of ink, containing the different colors. The size of the pigment is very important for the ability to diffuse in the solution inks. Qualities such as hue, saturation, and brightness or lightness are inherent in the ink, and vary dependent on the source and type of pigment."


It carries on with alot more from there....

[ARGOS++]

Dear Fuwei;

Your observation is absolutely correct!

Also several “modern” Inks are today mixtures, and that has a special cause.
(Older Inks was never “pure”, from there nature/production mostly a “natural” mixture.)

Let’s do it on a “to day” Example:
On Ink-Jet printers of any kind it is absolutely required that the three basic Inks (CMY) and Black (K) have all times a special and well defined “Shade/Nuance” in the “Color-Body”, because the Algorithms who are used to produce the image/picture on paper, fabrics, and similar. This is especially important, as you can only prepare the different required/possible Shades/Nuance with different numbers of “Micro-Drops” delivered by the nozzles of the print head.
This required Shades corresponds very seldom with the Nuance of a pure Dye (Not Pigment.), so most modern Inks contains a “Main Component” AND “Shadings” to correct the “Nuance”.
An Exception therefrom is (NOT for “Normal Printing”!) the Nuance Green, because nearly nobody can produce a real pure Green-Dye, and so most Greens are made of a/several Blue(s) and a/several Yellow(s) with nearly similar Amounts, but as I told: Not for Printing.
A typically difficult Nuance for Printing (CMY) is mostly the Magenta to print a brilliant Red, but it’s easy to produce a brilliant pure Red.

Sorry! – It seems there are a Lot of different Prophets, including Wikipedia, they know much better what Dyes, Pigments, Dyestuffs, and Inks/Toners, etc. are, then traditional (since ~1850) manufacturers of most or all kind of such stuff. (Only the “Dye” page of Wiki seems to be a little more accurate.)

Of course that an Ink needs additional components to adjust viscosity, for “non-chromatography”, and other physical parameters, - but I think that I told already.

Good Luck!
                   ARGOS⁺⁺

P.S.: I can accept that not everybody automaticaly likes my “Text-Shading”, even if it follows a certain concept.
.

[P]

P.S.: I can accept that not everybody automaticaly likes my “Text-Shading”, even if it follows a certain concept.
.

That's because it is awkward to follow and irritating to read as I said.  Has ANYBODY EVER complimented you for it at all? I can't imagine anyone thinking that it is a good idea to make your text more annoying to read.