How to Solve the Problem in the Process of Screen Printing?

Screen printing has great flexibility and wide applicability. Commonly, there are airless bottles and cosmetic jars, which can be screen printed with the patterns that customers need. However, during the screen printing process, many people often encounter a variety of problems and sometimes do not know how to solve them. So let's take a look at the common problems and solutions for them.

(1) The causes of poor drying ink:

a. Improper choice of solvent leading to corrosion of the substrate.

b. The solvent is too slow to dry or insufficient drying time.

Treatment methods as following:

a. To choose the solvent compatible with the substrate.

b. It is best to use a faster drying solvent or extend the drying time.

(2) The causes of printed artwork is not clear:

a. Improper choice of ink or quality problems with the ink itself.

b. The ink is too fast drying, so that the printing pattern or line is not clear, resulting in the pattern mutilation or line breakage phenomenon.

c. The viscosity of the ink is too high, and the printing pattern is defective or broken lines.

d. The phenomenon of blockage in printing affects the normal inking of the ink. If printed on a compact powder case it will affect the overall aesthetics.

e. Insufficient or uneven scraper pressure during printing, resulting in uneven inking.

f. The surface of the substrate is uneven.

Treatment methods as following:

a. Replace the ink with a suitable one.

b. Use a slower solvent to blend the ink.

c. Thin the ink or add thixotropic agents to reduce the viscosity.

d. Correctly select a slow drying solvent to dilute the ink and pay attention to the over-inking performance of the printing screen.

e. Increase the strength of the squeegee when printing, while paying attention to the uniformity of the scraping force.

f. Treat the surface of the substrate (e.g. when printing a coarse-grained substrate, you can use varnish or other materials to prime it before printing)

(3) The ink in the packaging box printing time often plug plate, affecting the normal use. The reasons for this are as follows：

a. The ink itself is too fast dry or in the high temperature printing environment using fast-drying solvents to dilute the ink.

b. The ink itself is too coarse particles, however, the use of printing plate mesh is too high, the ink can not be normal over the mesh.

c. Due to the viscosity of the ink is too high, in the printing of fine text or lines will cause plug plate.

Treatment methods as following:

a. Replace the slow-drying ink or according to the printing environment using a slower drying solvent blending ink.

b. Thin the ink or add thixotropic agents to reduce the viscosity.

c. Use the specified solvent to dilute the ink, so that the ink can be dissolved or dispersed properly.

(4) The main reason for the obvious water ripples in the print is that the ink is too thin or the viscosity is too low, and the product is very close to the screen during printing, resulting in the backward stickiness of the ink. Therefore, the amount of solvent added to the ink needs to be reduced, and the viscosity of the ink needs to be maintained while the screen distance is appropriately adjusted to enable the printing to bounce back naturally.

Above all are the common problems in the screen printing process and the corresponding solutions. Screen printing is widely used in various cosmetic packaging, the most common being cosmetic plastic bottles, and lipgloss tubes. If there is any other questions, please feel free to contact us!