Product packaging has become an art in itself. Not only the innovations in terms of sustainable materials and the increasing care in designing the most attractive have improved packaging performance but also the advances in packaging machines have made it easier, cheaper and faster to place products in the ideal wrap. Effective packaging should flawlessly maintain the product in optimal state, be coherent with the product and improve it in some way for example, making it easier to consume.
Plastic doesn't absorb water. Excessive use of fountain solution on any substrate, but especially plastic, slows ink oxidation and impairs adhesion. For optimum performance inks that are specifically formulated for printing on plastic should be used. These inks are designed to perform with minimal water, allowing the printer to reduce the amount of fountain chemistry and improve adhesion. Furthermore, printing with UV inks allows for greater latitude than printing with conventional inks. Since UV inks are cured rather than oxidized, drying is less of an issue.
Dyne level variations are greater with plastic than with paper. Ink bonds to the substrate by surface-tension potential, or dyne level. Optimum dyne level is 40. If the dyne level is too low it will be difficult for the ink to dry and it is likely to rub off, whereas a dyne level that is too high (above 50) will create significant static. For optimum results, a sample of the plastic substrate should be measured for its dyne level and then matched to a suitable ink.
Plastic tends to accumulate static. When printing on plastic it is especially important to use an anti-static device on the press and to regulate pressroom temperature and humidity.
In the toys and foods market, for example, a vast majority of packages consist of a cardboard box decorated and painted in loud colors with a picture of the toy or a cardboard structure with a transparent plastic box lid allowing to see the content of the box, securely positioned and fixed by plastic wires.
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