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How does non-PVC plastisol ink differ from PVC ink?

Like its PVC predecessor, non-PVC plastisol is considered a 100% solids ink product. This chemistry is also often referred to as an acrysol and is the most comparable to conventional plastisol products for application parameters.

This product is available to the marketplace through multiple ink manufacturers, and it uses the same machine setup, basic application parameters, and equipment as PVC plastisol inks. This chemistry is available with finished inks or mixing systems and is adaptable for all fabrics in the market.

The flip side to this offering is the cost of production and materials as compared to its PVC-containing counterpart. This ink requires more flashing during production, as well as a higher material cost resulting in a higher cost per print than conventional plastisol ink.

The cost of the ink is small compared to the overall cost of the shirt, but the difference in labor needs to be figured into the selling price. This offering delivers good durability and performance when printing athleticwear when compared to PVC plastisol and offers many of the special effect inks to which printers have become accustomed.

—PolyOne

Ray Smith

Ray Smith

Ray Smith has been in the screen-printing industry since 1978. He has been involved as an art director, production manager, plant manager and business owner. He re-joined Wilflex in 2008 as the applications lab manager. Smith is currently the senior business development manager at PolyOne.

View all articles by Ray Smith  

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