Ink is a typical consumable product as well as a basic element of a UV flatbed inkjet printer, as a printer cannot start production without inks. Therefore, the quality of ink determines the print results at some extent, while stability of ink being an important criterion for its quality.

YOTTA has summed up some practical methods of ink stability testing through great amount of practices and researches as well as clients' feedback information analyses. Here we would love to share those with you:

The first one is high temperature test. We place a UV flatbed inkjet printer in a high temperature of 55℃ to 70℃ for a week time, and then place it in a temperature between 20℃ to 50℃. After this, it is time to manage a continuous printing test for at least one hour, if the ink lines are not missing and the colors are not stained or faded, the ink quality is pretty good.

Second one is low temperature test. Similar to the high temperature test, this time we place the printer at a temperature of -37℃ to -46℃ for a week and then conduct a continuous printing test to check the test results.

The instability of ink would exposure under an extremely high or low temperature, so we can find out whether the ink is stable or not.

The last one we talk about this time is its sunlight resistance test with the help of a QUV aging tester and an X-Rite colorimeter. As some prints may be placed on the outside for a long period and the images will be influenced by UV light, PH rate, dusts and air pollution, therefore, we would better choose inks with 8th grade of sunlight resistance, which is the highest grade.

Apart from some various physical standards, the stability of high quality ink also counts a lot. Do not chase for extremely cheap inks since the raw materials are poor and the suspension system of inks is not stable. With the accumulation of time and changes of temperature, the precipitation and lamination of ink may appear, which can lead to print head clogging.

Related article: Cautions About UV Inks