DESCRIPTION
One Pack Gold and Silver inks for flexographic, screen or letterpress printing. Designed primarily for the printing of self adhesive labels. Standard inks and special ‘foil effect’ bright silver available.

PROPERTIES
Stable one pack inks. High brilliance. Fast cure/drying speeds. Unless the printed layer is a barrier to migration and there is no possibility of set off to the unprinted (food contact) surface, standard metallic inks are not intended for food packaging specifications.
For applications where the material is not a barrier, or set off is possible, we recommend the use of Low Migration inks & varnishes (see list). Contact us for further details.
It must also be mentioned that the Printer/Converter and Packer/ Filler has legal responsibility to ensure compliance with the relevant legislation for food packaging.

APPLICATION
Mix well before use. Anilox 80-120 l/cm. Cell volume 7-13 cm3/m.  Aniloxes greater than 400 l/cm can ‘filter’ the pigment flake out of the ink, so should be used with extreme caution. Volumes under 3 cm3/m2 and above 13 cm3/m2 are not recommended due to either poor coverage, or inadequate drying. Doctor blades should not be worn as the entrapment of air can lead to moussing of the inks. Screen: Flat 120T - 140T, Gallus: KM - KF, Stork 315/15% - 305/13%
UV Lamps – minimum 80 w/cm.
WB – Minimum dryer temp 50⁰C with good air flow. Plates: most plates for UV use. CTP plates may be more sensitive to the abrasive nature of the metallic pigments. Print speeds up to 75 m/min

SUBSTRATES
Coated papers and boards. Coated/treated PE/PP. Other materials after suitable testing.  Care needs to be taken when using Pulse’s RLM inks on uncoated papers. Some papers may absorb these inks and this may cause drying and printing problems. This can happen if the paper is very absorbent, and especially when printing with low film weight (i.e. fine anilox rollers), and at low printing speeds. Sealing the paper with a primer first can help. Please consult our technical department for assistance.

RANGE

GUIDELINES FOR USE
Additives: Additives may be used to alter the ink properties to suit particular press conditions. Please see below or consult our technical department.
Thermal Printing: RLM inks are not suitable for thermal papers, as the aluminium or bronze metallic pigments adversely affect thermal print-head wear.
Varnishes: RLM series may be varnished with waterbased or UV curable varnishes to improve resistance properties of the ink. Our technical department can provide advice for the best varnish for your application.

STORAGE & HANDLING
Store at temperatures between 5⁰C and 25⁰C. In unopened containers these inks have a shelf life of 6 months, except the bright silvers which have a 3 month shelf life.

Please also be aware that blending of metallic inks with other inks and pigments will drastically reduce the shelf life. It is highly recommended that coloured metallic inks are blended press-side immediately before use, and any ink left over is discarded. Problems include loss of metallic brilliance through to going lumpy.

PACKAGING
1kgs, 2.5kgs, 5kgs

AUXILIARY PRODUCTS
RLA350 UV wash-up. RLA324 Waterbased print aid. RLA394 Waterbased wash-up
Please ask the laboratory for details on other additives.