Information for inkjet printer users

MEK-free ink (alcohol-based ink)

It does not make sense to cite a Japanese ordinance on the US inkjet site. Not necessary to remove but something to consider in the future.

The demand for ethanol ink has quadrupled over the past three years

Customer needs for alcohol-based ink has been on the increase as a solution to meet the requirements of the new Ordinance.
At the same time, conventional alcohol-based inks have had issues with respect to their printing performance.
*Based on KEYENCE’s research

Problems with conventional alcohol-based ink

While alcohol-based inks feature easy handling and little or no odor, they also have issues with drying speed and maintenance.

Quick-drying	Maintenance	Easy usability	Odor
△	△	○	○

- Slow drying makes the ink unsuitable for high-speed production lines and use with plastic bottles and PP/PE films.
- Low volatility makes the ink prone to thinning, which results in unstable text.
- Missing pixels
  due to ink thinning
- Satisfactory printing

Advantages of the new ink MK-14

Conventional ethanol-based ink contains 80% to 90% ethanol. Ethanol has the previously mentioned issues due to its lower volatility compared to MEK. MK-14 is only 50% to 60% ethanol blended with a volatile glycolic solvent, which gives an enhanced quick-drying effect to the ink.