Adhesion improvement of water-based flexographic inks on polyethylene coated paperboard by silane adhesion promoters

Flexographic printing is the most usable technology in the packaging industry. But the lack of proper adhesion of water-based ink on cardboard coated with polyethylene is one of the most important problems. Silane adhesion promoters are considered among the best compounds used as the crosslinking and waterproofing agents in coating and ink industries. In this study, N-(2-Aminoethyl) (3-aminopropyl) methyldimethoxysilane and 2-(3, 4-Epoxycyclohexyl) ethyltriethoxysilane were used to improve the adhesion of water-based ink on paper boarded-coated with polyethylene. Results showed that highest amount of adhesion were achieved by adding 5% of N-(2-Aminoethyl) (3-aminopropyl) methyldimethoxysilane to ink. Adding silane compounds to ink formulation increased the contact angle of the ink film on the surface of cardboard coated with polyethylene which means that inks containing silane compounds act more successful in the formation of hydrophobic surface. It is worth noting that surface tension was decreased by addition of silane components to the formulation of the ink.