Significance and Use

Tinting strength is an essential property of printing ink dispersions. Although results on bulk tints do not guarantee equivalency of dry printed films, they provide useful parameters for quality control of production batches of bases and finished inks. Test results may also be used for color matching purposes.

1. Scope

1.1 This test method covers the procedure for determining the relative tinting strength of waterbased ink systems using a computer-aided spectrophotometer.

1.2 This test method is applicable to waterbased printing inks and bases to be used primarily in flexographic and gravure printing applications.

1.3 This test method applies only to single, non-fluorescent pigmented colors and black ink systems for which there is a reference standard containing a pigment of the identical color index name and number.

1.4 The procedure in this test method specifies placing tinted samples in a cuvette for spectrophotometric measurements. The use of thick wet drawdowns as in Test Methods D2066 are inappropriate due to severe floating problems with aqueous systems.

1.5 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as standard. No other units of measurement are included in this standard.

1.6 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations.

2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.

ASTM Standards

D2066 Test Methods for Relative Tinting Strength of Paste-Type Printing Ink Dispersions

D2244 Practice for Calculation of Color Tolerances and Color Differences from Instrumentally Measured Color Coordinates

E691 Practice for Conducting an Interlaboratory Study to Determine the Precision of a Test Method

E1331 Test Method for Reflectance Factor and Color by Spectrophotometry Using Hemispherical Geometry

E1347 Test Method for Color and Color-Difference Measurement by Tristimulus Colorimetry

E1349 Test Method for Reflectance Factor and Color by Spectrophotometry Using Bidirectional (45:0 or 0:45) Geometry

Keywords

aqueous printing inks; colorimeter; Kubelka-Munk equation; printing inks; spectrophotometer; tinting strength; waterbased ink systems; Aqueous printing inks; Colorimetric analysis; Kubelka-Munk equation; Printing inks/vehicles; Relative tinting strength; Spectrophotometry; Tinting strength; Water-based ink systems ;

ICS Code

ICS Number Code 87.080 (Inks. Printing inks)

DOI: 10.1520/D6531-00R10

ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.

ASTM D6531