Ink is a solution, suspension or colored paste composed of solvents, pigments, dyes, resins, lubricants, solubilizers, surfactants, particles, fluorescent agents and other materials. It plays an important role in our daily life and is widely used in writing, printing and painting. Deformulation of inks occupies an important position in the field of ink analysis and test because it can provide specific information about the chemical composition of the ink and how these components interact, which have an important impact on its performance, for example, the light resistance, water resistance and corrosion resistance of ink are related to the composition, and the fluidity and drying speed of ink are also affected by the composition. Through deformulation analysis, companies can create new and high-performance ink formulations, or optimize and adjust the existing formulations to better serve the different uses. Alfa Chemistry is a laboratory specializing in deformulation analysis, and we have very rich experience in ink deformulation that can meet your unique needs.
Why Perform Inks Deformulation?
In addition to creating innovative inks products and optimizing the existing formula. The inks deformulation service can help you (to name a few):
- Make decisions about ink quality and cost control
- Explore patent infringement or investigate patent expiration
- Understand certain ingredients in ink products
- Identify impurities or potentially hazardous substances
- Identify the authenticity (or non-authenticity) of a work (that is, the identification of adhesives, pigments or additives in writing or printing inks can provide scientific evidence of the authenticity of historical documents, collections and paintings, and can provide evidence for judicial cases by identifying suspicious documents (including forged checks, wills or altered records)).
Meet Our Services
Alfa Chemistry's deformulation lab has the ability to test a wide range of ink products. And we perform customized extractions and specialized instrumental techniques to identify and quantify the ingredients or composition. In this regard, we offer multiple levels of deformulation service.
Ink products we deformulate include, but are not limited to:
- Pigment inks and dye-based inks.
- Liquid inks, solid inks and paste inks.
- Printing inks (paper printing ink, fabric printing ink, plastic printing ink, metal printing ink, glass printing ink, ceramic printing ink), printer inks, packaging inks, electronic inks, decorative inks, writing and painting inks, tattoo inks, finger printing inks, etc.
- Lithographic printing inks, letterpress printing inks, gravure inks, flexographic printing inks, hole printing inks, digital printing inks, special printing inks, offset printing inks, screen printing inks, etc.
- High-gloss inks, quick-setting inks, heat-set inks, cold-set inks, moisture-set inks, metallic inks, magnetic inks, fluorescent inks, thermal transfer ink, anti-counterfeiting ink, UV ink, etc.
- Sublimation inks, ribbon inks, blue and black inks, carbon inks, red inks, ballpoint pen inks, gel inks, etc.
- ...
All in all, no matter what type of ink you have, Alfa Chemistry can provide you with a deformulation service. It is worth noting that we can perform deformulation service on both solid ink specimens and liquid ink specimens.
Ingredients contained in ink products we test include, but are not limited to:
- Dyes and pigments: They can be of inorganic nature (carbon black, iron trioxide, titanium or aluminum oxide, etc.) or natural organic (animal, plant, etc.) or industrial origin (nitro derivatives, triphenylmethane derivatives, xanthenics, acridine, quinoline, anthraquinonics, indigoids, phthlocyanins, oxidation bases and azo).
- Solvent: Petroleum solvents (non-aromatic), alcohols, esters, glycols, water, etc.
- Binder: Polyurethane, polyacrylic, polyvinyl, epoxy, phenoplast, vegetable oil, natural resin, etc.
- Additives: Animal (bee), vegetable (carnauba, jojoba, candelilla ...) or mineral (PE) waxes or PTFE), plasticizers, antioxidants, anti-staining agents (silica, starch, cellulose…), drying agents, photo-initiators, fungicides, thickeners, flavorings, adhesion promoters, etc.
Our inks deformulation capabilities include, but are not limited to:
- Full identification & quantification of all chemical components
- Semi-quantitative identification of major and minor ingredients
- Identification of major or substrate ingredients
- Quantification of specific components
Techniques and Instruments
Alfa Chemistry uses various techniques and instruments for inks deformulation, including but not limited to:
How We Proceed?
Please kindly note that our products and services are for research use only.
