Dynamic contact angle analysis and its application to paste PVC products

Some recent replacements of solvent-based aqueous inks for the printing of products made from paste PVC are traceable to environmental legislation. Printability is a critical property of printing inks that is highly dependent on the substrate. Acceptable printability is of greatest concern in developing water-based inks for printing on non-porous low-surface-energy substrates such as PVC films. Solvent-based inks usually offer satisfactory wetting and adhesion. The high surface energy and polarity of water make it more difficult to develop water-based inks suitable for surface printing on PVC films. This report reviews the literature relating to surface energy analysis and applies this theory to experimental data measured with the aid of a Cahn Dynamic Contact Angle Analyser (DCA) in an attempt to understand how surface energy relates to printability. PVC films from the wallcovering industry were examined by using the DCA. The resulting data was compared with the theory and the practical printing observations from the wallcovering manufacturer.