Aquabase+ is a modular ink system that enables Van Son Liquids to make high quality water based flexographic and gravure inks as efficiently as is possible, for a wide range of applications, and always with an eye on sustainability.

The company established a dedicated facility for liquid ink production back in 2000 in Hilversum in Holland, and this has been dedicated to 100% solvent free production since 2009. In fact, it now no longer produces solvent based products for the flexo market, but rather concentrates on the water based alternatives. The range includes waterbased ink products for each market segment within flexography including separate formulations for envelopes, films and foils, paper and board, paper cups, labels and tickets, ruling, and towel and tissue, and as such is one of the most comprehensive range of water based inks for the flexographic market.

An increasing awareness of environmental issues and the demand from end users for more environmentally packaged and label led products make waterbased options the way forward for flexo printers. Eliminating VOCs not only helps the environment, but is also kinder to employees, as well as doing away with many Health & Safety issues.

 

Flexo is used to produce a wide range of applications and ink solutions must be able to cope with the singular demands of each segment  whether th at is corrugated, tissue, packaging or labels.

Aquabase+ products actually work with the same pigment technology right the way through, with any adjustments required for a particular process being made by introducing a specific application varnish and special additives. The inks offer printers a higher quality and provide significantly better colour matching than can be achieved with solvent dye based ink systems. By creating the whole range of inks with a minimum of ingredients the company is able to create a consistent set of products suited to working with a wide range of anilox configurations from coarse to very fine.

As an indication of the high quality standards, the Process series of Aquabase+ product enables very delicate CMYK printing up to a 72 line screen image on coated substrates. As part of the production process, semi-finished Van Son product has to pass several quality control standards before being placed in storage in the company's intermediate holding tanks from which final customer specified quantities will be dispensed.

Van Son can support any size of customer requiring press ready inks or ink concentrate dispensing systems with quantities from 5 kg through to 1000 kg. Ink for both methods of supply comes from the same colour concentrates, meaning that product quality and colour is consistent.

The latest addition to the Aquabase+ range are the Aqueous Coatings products, which are ideally suited for working with the anilox coating unit of most suppliers' offset machinery.