Web and Sheetfed Offset printing can use conventional inks which are either water based, soy based or solvent based. For these inks to properly dry additional drying time is required or dryers can be added to the printing press to accelerate the drying process. Adding dryers onto the printing press may be necessary to properly print on non-porous or high hold out substrates such as films, plastics, foils, coated papers, etc.

A water based offset lithographic ink contains water; a modified rosin polymer comprised of resins soluble in water regardless of the pH of the water, resin rosin salts soluble in water at pH ranging from 7.5 to 10 and aqueous emulsion resins; a modified linseed oil; and pigment.

For most water-based printing & coating applications, Prime’s short or fast medium-wave IR Emitters match the absorption peak for the water molecules with the ink or coating chemistry. Please note that the substrate being used also affects the drying efficiency of the drying system used.

Prime’s Air Impingement (Heated Air Knife “HAK”) dryers are designed to create an uninterrupted stream of high velocity air to remove water or other liquids from the chemistry used. This air impingement process substantially increases heat and mass transfer rates, this ensuring the highly efficient removal of moisture from the chemistry. To increase overall efficiency and reduce power consumption, Prime’s HAKs are designed for use with lower pressure blowers compared to compressed air driven air knives.

Prime UV-IR Systems manufactures several types of drying Chambers which use either or both InfraRed and Air-Impingemenet drying technologies to very effectively and efficiently dry ink and coating chemistry in-line on a wide variety of printing presses whether web or sheetfed presses