White ink (Titanium Dioxide TiO2); is growing in popularity with printers due to the increasing demand to print on brown recycled packaging. White ink delivers simple but effective results when printed correctly, however, it can be difficult to manage on press as viscosity guidelines may vary depending on the visual printed coverage and density required.

High viscosity white ink improves the final printed appearance, as well as increased print / anilox impression settings, but these factors can also generate a host of print cleaning issues when printing white ink.

We recommend you try and maintain the viscosity of white ink at around 25 - 30 seconds as this will improve the final printed appearance and coverage.

If not cleaned methodically and effectively, white ink can block anilox cells, contaminating the whole inking system. If left to dry solid, any white ink will become hard and brittle, resulting in small shards or particles dislodging. If these particles enter the ink chamber they can scratch or score anilox rolls, which are expensive to repair. If polymer printing plates are left to dry without immediately cleaning off the fresh white ink then more time and effort will be required to clean them.

A strict cleaning regime needs to be implemented when printing with white ink. This ensures the internal inking system is kept clean but also reduces potential damage and downtime. We recommend a slightly longer auto-dose wash followed by a bucket wash if your machines have a built-in washing system, or an extra-long bucket wash if this your preferred cleaning method.

Contact us for further information and cleaning suggestions for white ink.