The Evolution of Water-Based Inks for Flexible Packaging
Consumer purchasing decisions often hinge on aesthetic shelf appeal, making inks and coatings a critical element of a product’s brand positioning. In order to catch the consumer’s eye, solvent-based inks have been widely used in flexible packaging applications, owing to their vibrant color development, fast dry speed and effective resistance properties.
Though historically more prevalent on porous substrates, such as paper and paperboard, water-based inks can provide differentiated performance on film and foil, and are an increasingly desirable option for the industry—providing ink formulators with excellent resolubility and bond strength.
In this FLEXO Tech Talk, Josh explores some of the history of water-based inks for flexible substrates, the milestones achieved to further support their wider adoption, and highlights the market-leading technologies being applied in the industry today.
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About Our Presenter
Josh Kempfer, BASF
In his role as technical specialist at BASF, Josh Kempfer helps further customer formulations with his extensive product and application insight. Josh leverages broad production and application experience to enable the industry to get the most out of the leading portfolio of BASF resin and additive products for use in printing inks and coatings.
Josh is often the first point of contact for customer or end-user questions and application concerns; this visibility has provided him with further insight into the details of printing processes, formulations and common operating issues. When he’s not creating chemistry with customers, Josh is focused on furthering innovative solutions for flexible packaging and heat-seal lacquer applications.
Josh’s technical expertise began with his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan and has grown over the last six years as he has gained diverse experience in chemical production and end-use applications.