Are you confused by the choices you have is selecting the right printer technology to meet your needs? Fortunately, when it comes to ink sets you have choices and are not forced to “make do” with a system that may not fully meet your needs. For wide-format printing, there are now several ink chemistry choices.
打印设备通常有多种墨水可供选择，若选择不适，则无法操作，选择适中的，则实现不了最佳效果。但幸运的是，当涉及到墨水套装时，能满足系统的所有需求。那么，对于宽幅打印，该如何选择最完美合适的墨水系统呢。
Of course they are coupled to the inkjet printer system and cannot be chosen independently. You should know up front that no single ink technology can be used successfully for all printing applications. There is no magic bullet.
当墨水连接到喷墨打印系统时，系统不能独立地选择单一的墨水，事实上，所有打印应用程序都不能使用单一的墨水。
Initially, there was only aqueous (water-based) inks and solvent-based inks: aqueous for indoor prints, hot solvent inks for vinyl outdoor applications.
最初，墨水只分为水性油墨和溶剂型油墨：水性油墨应用于室内打印，溶剂型油墨应用于室外打印。
Hot solvents, though very effective, posed serious health concerns; however, as the technology matured, mild- or eco-solvent inks came to replace the harsher true solvents. Later, inks further evolved to include UV-curable and “Latex” ink systems. Here we will discuss the pros and cons of each of these technologies and look at the new option of UV LED ink technology.
溶剂型油墨虽然非常实用，但对人体的健康有重大危害。随着技术的成熟，环保型溶剂油墨的出现替代了溶剂型油墨。后来，墨水技术进一步演变，包括UV固化和乳胶墨水系统。在本文中，我们将分析这些最新墨水技术的优缺点，并探讨一种新的选择——UV- LED油墨技术。
Aqueous or Solvent
水性油墨或溶剂油墨
Hewlett Packard, Epson and Canon are the dominant suppliers of aqueous inkjet printers today. Aqueous printers provide exceptional image quality, a wide color gamut and good image permanence for indoor applications and for some outdoor applications when either a protective coating or laminate are used.
Hewlett Packard、爱普生和佳能是水性喷墨打印机的主要供应商。水性喷墨打印机在使用保护涂层或层压板时，可为室内应用和户外应用提供质量卓越、宽色域、持久性良好的图像。
Aqueous inks, however, require that substrates have an inkjet coating to absorb the ink, control drop spread and hold the pigment on the surface so that good color density can be obtained. As with all inkjet technologies the best results are always achieved when the printer, software, ink and media are optimized.
然而，水性油墨的使用要求基材具有喷墨涂层，以吸收油墨，控制液滴扩散，并将颜料保持在表面上，从而获得良好的色彩密度。与所有喷墨技术一样，当打印机、软件、墨水和介质同时被优化时，图形才可以获得最佳效果。
Commonly used substrates for wide-format inkjet are adhesive-backed vinyl and fabric-reinforced or “scrim” vinyl. With aqueous inkjet inks a coating is required for these materials, however for mild- and eco-solvent ink sets no coating is required. This is an advantage for eco-solvent inkjet.
通常用于宽幅打印的基材是粘合剂支撑的乙烯基和织物。对于这些材料，使用水性油墨需要涂层，但是对于温性的环保溶剂油墨，则不需要涂层，这就是这种环保型墨水技术的优势所在。
Roland, Epson, Mimaki, OKI Data and Mutoh are major suppliers of mild solvent inkjet printers. Although mild solvent ink, once printed and dried, is not water sensitive, the very thin ink layer is still somewhat susceptible to physical damage and weathering so it is prudent to coat the printed vinyl to protect it. For canvas, paper and other films, a coating may still be required to insure good performance. Mild solvent inks do contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), though not in the high concentrations found in hot solvent inks, and although most have little or no smell they are still solvents, and they should be handled carefully, ventilated or sequestered, and waste ink needs to be disposed of properly.
Roland、Epson、Mimaki、OKI Data和Mutoh是溶剂喷墨打印机的主要供应商。即使溶剂墨水干燥，对水不敏感，但这种非常薄的墨水仍会受到损伤和风化，因此，需要涂上乙烯基来起保护作用。对于帆布、纸张或其他薄膜介质，也需要涂层以确保油墨能发挥良好的性能。此外，溶剂墨水具有挥发性，会挥发一些有机化合物。溶剂油墨几乎没有气味，但它们仍然是溶剂，应该小心处理，要进行通风或隔离，对废墨水也需要即时处理掉。
Latex or UV LED
乳胶油墨或UV-LED油墨
“Latex” ink is the name coined by Hewlett Packard for their water-based ink that incorporates a polymer binder to bond the pigments to the substrate. For vinyl applications, no coating is required. This system can effectively print directly onto a range of uncoated vinyl using heat to dry the ink so that it does not run and a binder to provide a film when dried.
乳胶墨水是由惠普公司对水性油墨起的名称，其中包含聚合物粘合剂，它能有效的将颜料粘合到基材上。这种油墨应用在乙烯基的材料上，不需要涂层。此外，该油墨系统可以借助热能量直接在未涂覆的乙烯基上有效地打印，等它变干时覆上薄膜。
The objective is to provide a durable image on uncoated vinyl without the solvents in eco-solvent ink. Like aqueous inks Latex inks provide a very “green” solution without the production of undesirable VOCs and solvent vapors. Still, for many other substrates a treatment or coating is suggested to provide an optimum solution. There are a range of substrates available that have been optimized for Latex printers.
乳胶墨水能提供非常“绿色”的溶液，不会产生有机化合物或一些溶剂蒸汽。然而，对于许多基底，建议先进行涂层处理，以实现最佳的解决方案。现在，很多标识制作商已经为Latex打印机优化了一系列可用的基材。
Although available at a higher cost, UV-curable inkjet is also a contender to be considered. The ink includes little or no solvent or water and is cured when exposed to ultra violet light. The entire droplet is cured and becomes solid providing a polymer matrix that incorporates the pigments providing the color. This technology is ideal for certain applications, most popularly for printing onto rigid substrates such as composite aluminum, corrugated plastics, Dibond, PVC sheeting, foam board, etc.
尽管可以获得更高的成本，但UV-LED油墨也需要考虑激烈的竞争市场。UV-LED油墨少量包含或不含溶剂或水，暴露于紫外线中，使整个液体固化变成固态，形成聚合物基质，提供颜色。该油墨技术应用范围广，常用于复合铝、波纹塑料，PVC发泡板等刚性基材上的打印。
Many of today's UV-curing printers are using an LED-based light source. LED refers to the use of light emitting diodes as the UV light source.
现在，许多UV平板打印机都引入了节能LED，将发光二极管作为UV光源。
LED UV-cure systems evolved as an alternative to the use of much hotter conventional UV cure lamps employing arc lamp technology. LED cure lights are more energy efficient and run much cooler than conventional lights and this allows printing onto more heat-sensitive substrates that might otherwise curl or buckle under hot lights.
UV-LED系统使用的是弧光灯技术的常规紫外线固化灯，LED固化灯比传统灯更节能，应用时冷却效果更好，这样一来，它们可以在更多的热敏基材上进行打印，遇热不会出现卷曲或弯曲的现象。
However, the UV-curable inks in both systems are similar and must be treated with respect.
然而，两个系统中的UV固化油墨相似，必须进行相应的对待和处理。
As liquids, UV-curable inks are quite hazardous and require careful handling to avoid skin contact. Once the inks are cured they provide a relatively safe and durable image. Adhesion of the ink to the substrate—like all ink technologies—requires some optimization. On porous substrates, especially fabrics, the ink may soak into the surface prior to curing. The UV light must directly contact the ink to achieve curing. If beneath the surface and shielded from the UV light by a paper or fabric fiber the cure may be incomplete.
作为液体，UV固化油墨是相当危险的，需要进行仔细处理，以避免皮肤接触，油墨一旦固化，就能提供相对耐用的图像。另一方面，油墨技术的粘附功能需要进行一些优化。对于多孔基材，尤其是织物，油墨可以在固化前浸入基材的表面，如果在基材表面用纸或纤维遮蔽紫外线，可能不会发生固化反应，因此，打印时，UV-LED必须直接接触墨水，才能实现固化。
On nonporous surfaces there needs to be proper wetting by the ink and a surface that can bond to the ink when cured. Sometimes a treatment or coating may be required to get optimum performance. There are a range of substrates available that have been optimized for UV printing.
当无孔基材的表面与油墨接触时，需要对无孔基材的表面做适当的润湿处理。有时需要先涂层，才能发挥油墨的最佳性能。有一系列基材已经针对UV打印进行了优化，可以直接与油墨接触了。
The newest UV-curable ink set to come online is called UVgel, a unique formula developed for Canon USA's new Oce Colorado 1640 printer. The unique gel properties of this ink reduce dot gain and offer other advantages. Although it's too soon to report on how it performs in the field, UV-cure ink safety precautions will certainly still apply.
最新上市的UV固化油墨UVgel，是一款专为佳能制造的新型打印机Oce Colorado 1640设计的配方，具有独特的凝胶特性，可减少黑点的增加。有时打印出现了问题，系统报告延迟了，UV固化墨水的安全预防措施仍然适用。
Conclusions
总结
With all of these choices—and we didn’t even discuss dye-sub inks for fabric printing—my best advice is that once you determine the printing applications that you anticipate, test each printer/ink system to determine which best meets your needs. Testing such as this can often be done through printer dealers and distributors.
尽管我们还没讨论应用于织物打印的升华染色墨水，就已经有很多种类的墨水可供选择了。但我们最好的建议是，一旦确定了您预期的打印应用程序，就可以测试每个打印机/墨水系统，以确定哪种墨水最适合您的需求。测试通常可以通过打印机经销商来进行。
Clearly the ink cost, printer speed and image quality, media cost and availability and final performance of the product you produce all need to be considered. The good news is that you do have a number of viable choices. The decision may not be easy; however, inkjet ink technology has come a long way and can provide great results for a wide variety of applications.
在众多选择的条件下，选择最合适的或许不太容易。显然，要实现一个精美的成品，对墨水成本、打印机速度、图像质量、媒介成本等各方面都需要考虑周全。油墨技术在不断更新，在努力为各种应用提供最佳效果。
