David Savastano, Editor05.20.19
Resins are critical to the functionality of an ink. They impart many of the important characteristics of a finished ink, including gloss and adhesion, can help the ink run well on the press, and can also help disperse pigment.
Lisa Fine of Ink Systems Inc. noted that the polymers used in formulating inks have several key functions, depending on the nature of the resin/polymer itself.
“For instance, solution polymers of a suitable molecular weight and functionality are useful for dispersing pigment and stabilizing the dispersions thus produced,” Fine observed. “Once ink is made, it relies on its resins to provide good ink transfer through the press, gloss, adhesion to the substrate, flexibility, scratch resistance, and chemical resistance. Note that unlike other inks, water-based inks have two important forms that are necessary to attain all of the foregoing properties: solution resins and emulsion resins. The solution resins provide pigment dispersibility and ink transfer, as do similar resins in other types of inks - but the emulsion resins are key for the development of flexibility and resistance properties in the finished print.”
The types of resins used in printing inks vary depending on the type of ink being produced. For example, Fine noted that flexo solvent-based ink applications consist of polyamides, cellulosics, nitrocellulose and acrylic solvent soluble resins.
Meanwhile, flexo water-based ink applications rely on styrene acrylic solution resins and acrylic emulsion resins.
Along those lines, conventional offset inks feature rosin esters, hydrocarbons and alkyds resins. UV offset inks utilize epoxy, polyester and urethane acrylate resins, while UV flexo inks can use epoxy, polyester, polyether, and urethane acrylates resins.
“Since resin comprises such a large percentage of any formulation, pricing for this type of raw material is more sensitive than for additive level raw materials in an ink formulation,” Fine added.
The Resin Market
Resins are used in many products besides inks, and as Fine noted, there are a large variety of resins. For example, the water-based resin market is growing, according to MarketsandMarkets’ report, “Water-based Resins Market by Type (Acrylic, Epoxy, Polyurethane, Alkyd), Application (Paints & Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants, Inks), and Region (Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, and Middle East & Africa) - Global Forecast to 2023.”
MarketsandMarkets places water-based resin sales at $52.65 billion by 2023. The analysts anticipate the market growing at a CAGR of 6.3%, with acrylic resins showing the highest growth from 2018 to 2023.
“The growth of the water-based resins market can be attributed to the increasing demand from the paints and coatings and adhesives and sealants applications,” MarketsandMarkets’ analysts noted.
“Governments of various economies have established stringent regulations for permissible amounts of VOCs. This has caused a reduction in the use of solvent-based technology and promoted the use of water-based technology.”
It makes sense that water-based resins would have higher growth in graphic arts as well, as water-based packaging inks are also doing well.
MarketsandMarkets also did a study on the global ink resin market, “Ink Resins Market by Type (Modified Rosins, Hydrocarbon, Cellulose, Acrylic, Polyamide, Polyurethane), by Technology (Oil, Solvent, Water, UV), by Application (Printing & Publication, Flexible Packaging, Corrugated Cardboards) - Global Forecasts to 2019,” which placed the ink resin market at $2.6 billion six years ago, projecting it to grow to $3.5 billion by next year, driven by packaging.
360ResearchReports breaks down the resin market for the ink industry in its study, “Ink Resin Market 2019 Industry Research, Share, Trend, Global Industry Size, Price, Future Analysis, Regional Outlook to 2022.”
According to 360ResearchReports, the market for ink resins grew by 5.37% from $2.150 billion in 2014 to $2.515 million in 2017. The researchers believe the market will surpass $3.2 billion by 2022.
Resin suppliers said that the past 12 months were challenging for their market. For example, Terry Chomniak, director of sales - process organics for Hydrite, said it was another tight year for the resin industry as consolidation of printers and ink manufacturers continue to affect the industry. “We expect the industry to continue to stabilize and remain tight,” he added.
Simon Foster, market segment manager - printing inks/OPV for Paper & Paperboard at BASF, said that 2018 was another dynamic year in the resin industry, characterized by fluctuating raw materials that created challenges for BASF and its customers.
“The strong competitive dynamics that we’ve seen over recent years, both among resin producers as well as ink manufacturers, have continued to generate pressure on price and cost positions across the market,” Foster reported. “The ability to supply was also challenged as transportation availability continued to tighten, driving up costs and forcing suppliers and customers to adjust their operations and logistics. Generally, resin demand remained flat to slightly up as the industry evolution from publications to packaging has continued.”
“Lubrizol is seeing a higher level of demand, particularly in our resins for inkjet inks, which are water-based resins designed to be jettable,” said Alison Drasdo, marketing manager, printing & packaging, Lubrizol.
Bill Gustitus, global account manager at Resinall Corporation, said he can’t speak for the rest of the graphic arts resin industry, but as for Resinall, it was yet another disappointing year.
“We continue to see lower demand and decline primarily in publication heatset printing and associative demand for heatset flush and pigment dispersion vehicles,” Gustitus added.
“We have observed that more and more customers are using our products in the specialty ink market, such as graphic arts and packaging,” said a Yuenliang company executive. “We have seen growth in various fields, as well as specific industrial areas, i.e. special chemicals. For Yuenliang, packaging and application of innovative materials/inks are the areas where we have witnessed the greatest growth.”
Taiwan Nanotechnologies officials noted that resin is one of the most important materials for making digital inks, as it has a wide range of applications due to its flexibility and effectiveness on printing.
Raw Materials
Raw materials remain a concern throughout the resin supply chain.
“As we are backwardly-integrated into many of our raw materials, BASF is in a strong position to provide security of supply to our customers and the market,” Foster said. “This is further reinforced by a strong production footprint of resins and dispersions here in North America that enable us to be a responsive and reliable supplier to domestic ink manufacturers, and our global network of sites and colleagues ensure we’re able to deliver a high level of service in all regions. We’ve always worked to partner with our customers, which has become even more important in recent years as we work along the value chain to ensure that supply interruptions do not adversely impact our customers and their end-users.”
Taiwan Nanotechnologies said that pressure sensitive adhesive, epoxy resin and polyurethane are concerns. “Normally our business is based on trust. Therefore, our customers would understand if our supply line had a shortage,” the official added.
“Virtually all strategic raw materials for value generation to Resinall are tied to either crude oil or natural gas derivatives,” Gustitus said. “Availability has not and does not seem to be an issue. Price, price validity, and mechanisms to establish price stability have been a stumbling block to offer customers sustainable prices.”
“We’ve seen styrene in its normal cycle through 2018 and starting the upswing here in March as a producer is in the midst of a 45-day shutdown with seasonal usage right around the corner,” said Chomniak. “Acrylates, especially methacrylate chemistries, have continued their tightness of 2018, which we expect to continue well into 2019. There are some planned plant outages during the April and May timeframe which will not benefit the market.”
The Packaging Ink Market
Packaging inks are a strong area for ink manufacturers, and it is also an area that is facing more regulations. As a result, packaging ink customers are looking for more from resins.
“Low migration applications require higher purity products to mitigate the possibility of contaminants and residuals from migrating through the package - hence, resin suppliers need to be aware of these residuals and ways to reduce them in the manufacturing process,” Fine said. “The manufacturer will need good analytical capabilities to track and monitor these substances.”
“Relative to our resins, Lubrizol is working to ensure our products meet current and future regulatory requirements, by, for example, developing NMP and APEO-free grades, or products that meet food contact regulations where necessary,” Drasdo said.
“The evolving retail and e-commerce space presents unique opportunities for our industry but it also changing customer expectations around inks and coatings,” Foster said. “To support the growing demand for packaging inks, customers are looking for resins and raw materials that provide cost efficiency, that are easy to use, and enable them to reduce complexity and keep up with this dynamic, growing market sub-segment.
“Sustainability is also a key customer driver, but it’s also still largely undefined,” added Foster. “Bio-Renewable Content (BRC) of inks and coatings is really the yardstick that we’re all measured against and striving to meet, but there are also other ways that we are contributing to sustainable packaging. In line with brand owner commitments and focus on recyclability, we’re working on technical innovations that will broaden and improve the recyclability of the package itself and further contribute to the burgeoning circular economy.”
“Our customers are paying more attention to eco-friendly material, especially in China, where the regulations are getting more strict,” said a Taiwan Nanotechnologies official. “Picking the correct materials are the primary thing to meet our customers’ needs and pass the test report.”
“In addition to the applicability of basic design, the application of ink products in various packaging materials should also meet the requirements of different regional classifications,” said a Yuenliang official.
“Yuenliang should assist customers in customized production according to their specific needs, so as to assist customers in developing and applying products to meet the requirements of different regional classifications.”
“Yuenliang does not regard the fluctuation of raw materials as the main key impact on the company’s performance, because we recognize that the fluctuation of international trends is inevitable,” the Yuenliang executive added. “In the presence of our integrated production plan, the impact is still small. Cooperating with customers to meet the needs of different fields, making design and development for customers to develop products in new areas, is a long-term cooperation between Yuenliang and customers.”
New Technologies
New resin technologies are helping ink manufacturers meet the needs of their printing customers.
“Demands for better performance from an ink/OPV system have led us to develop a new product, HydriPrint 606, for better initial water resistance and ice crinkle resistance,” said Chomniak. “Hydrite has developed a polymer which will provide better stability, clarity, and lay in a final finished matte formula with potential gloss readings less than 5 at 60°. This emulsion will increase the flexibility of formulators to create matte, satin, semi-gloss finishes without the use of solid silica and wax powders.”
“A current focus for innovation are resins with an improved sustainability profile as we see this as a growing need for the packaging industry,” said Drasdo. “This includes resins based on bio-based, renewable or recycled materials or possibly biodegradable resins that would allow for compostability.”
“We continue to develop innovative solutions to advance our customers’ formulations,” Foster said. “In more mature segments, such as paper and paperboard, we’ve focused on improving customer cost efficiency with the introduction of our cost-in-use portfolio - including JONCRYL’s 689-A, 2190H-A, and 659-A - that eliminates the need for customers to trade-off between cost position and desired performance. For faster growth areas like flexible packaging, we’ve launched our high-performance Versamid PUR 2110. To support our customers in harnessing the growth in energy cure inks and OPV, we also launched Laromer UA 9089.”
“Taiwan Nano has first-rate grinding technique,” said a Taiwan Nanotechnologies official. “Therefore, the ingredient of our products has smaller particles in nanoscale, which increases the reliability.
“It has been our experience that the industry will accept novel technology that offers recognizable cost savings. Resinall continues its R&D effort in this regard,” Gustitus said. “Developing products with greater intrinsic value that command a higher price are generally not as commercially successful.”
Expectations for the Coming Year
Resin suppliers anticipate a mixed bag in the coming year, with packaging and inkjet inks on the rise and publication and commercial inks facing more challenges.
“The technologies of flexible displays and biological ink are partly made of resin,” said a Taiwan Nanotechnologies official. “It will be a new trend in the future. Taiwan Nano is trying to develop the above technologies for the future market.”
“Yuenliang’s future prospects are to maintain and breakthrough product limitations and further expand to a wider range of global markets,” the company official noted. “In addition, in recent years, we have focused on optimizing Yuenliang’s ability to design products, customizing specific industries and connecting industries more closely.”
“As has been evident for the last few years, we see continued declines and consolidation in publication heatset volume,” Gustitus said.
“We’re expecting 2019 to mirror 2018 in many ways,” Foster said. “Raw materials will remain an industry headwind and will continue to challenge margins along the value chain. Market volumes in graphics arts are well established and market growth is expected to be positive but low, so we expect sustained pricing pressure as printers and ink formulators work to gain every possible advantage to win business and squeeze efficiencies out of their supply chains.”
Lisa Fine of Ink Systems Inc. noted that the polymers used in formulating inks have several key functions, depending on the nature of the resin/polymer itself.
“For instance, solution polymers of a suitable molecular weight and functionality are useful for dispersing pigment and stabilizing the dispersions thus produced,” Fine observed. “Once ink is made, it relies on its resins to provide good ink transfer through the press, gloss, adhesion to the substrate, flexibility, scratch resistance, and chemical resistance. Note that unlike other inks, water-based inks have two important forms that are necessary to attain all of the foregoing properties: solution resins and emulsion resins. The solution resins provide pigment dispersibility and ink transfer, as do similar resins in other types of inks - but the emulsion resins are key for the development of flexibility and resistance properties in the finished print.”
The types of resins used in printing inks vary depending on the type of ink being produced. For example, Fine noted that flexo solvent-based ink applications consist of polyamides, cellulosics, nitrocellulose and acrylic solvent soluble resins.
Meanwhile, flexo water-based ink applications rely on styrene acrylic solution resins and acrylic emulsion resins.
Along those lines, conventional offset inks feature rosin esters, hydrocarbons and alkyds resins. UV offset inks utilize epoxy, polyester and urethane acrylate resins, while UV flexo inks can use epoxy, polyester, polyether, and urethane acrylates resins.
“Since resin comprises such a large percentage of any formulation, pricing for this type of raw material is more sensitive than for additive level raw materials in an ink formulation,” Fine added.
The Resin Market
Resins are used in many products besides inks, and as Fine noted, there are a large variety of resins. For example, the water-based resin market is growing, according to MarketsandMarkets’ report, “Water-based Resins Market by Type (Acrylic, Epoxy, Polyurethane, Alkyd), Application (Paints & Coatings, Adhesives & Sealants, Inks), and Region (Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, and Middle East & Africa) - Global Forecast to 2023.”
MarketsandMarkets places water-based resin sales at $52.65 billion by 2023. The analysts anticipate the market growing at a CAGR of 6.3%, with acrylic resins showing the highest growth from 2018 to 2023.
“The growth of the water-based resins market can be attributed to the increasing demand from the paints and coatings and adhesives and sealants applications,” MarketsandMarkets’ analysts noted.
“Governments of various economies have established stringent regulations for permissible amounts of VOCs. This has caused a reduction in the use of solvent-based technology and promoted the use of water-based technology.”
It makes sense that water-based resins would have higher growth in graphic arts as well, as water-based packaging inks are also doing well.
MarketsandMarkets also did a study on the global ink resin market, “Ink Resins Market by Type (Modified Rosins, Hydrocarbon, Cellulose, Acrylic, Polyamide, Polyurethane), by Technology (Oil, Solvent, Water, UV), by Application (Printing & Publication, Flexible Packaging, Corrugated Cardboards) - Global Forecasts to 2019,” which placed the ink resin market at $2.6 billion six years ago, projecting it to grow to $3.5 billion by next year, driven by packaging.
360ResearchReports breaks down the resin market for the ink industry in its study, “Ink Resin Market 2019 Industry Research, Share, Trend, Global Industry Size, Price, Future Analysis, Regional Outlook to 2022.”
According to 360ResearchReports, the market for ink resins grew by 5.37% from $2.150 billion in 2014 to $2.515 million in 2017. The researchers believe the market will surpass $3.2 billion by 2022.
Resin suppliers said that the past 12 months were challenging for their market. For example, Terry Chomniak, director of sales - process organics for Hydrite, said it was another tight year for the resin industry as consolidation of printers and ink manufacturers continue to affect the industry. “We expect the industry to continue to stabilize and remain tight,” he added.
Simon Foster, market segment manager - printing inks/OPV for Paper & Paperboard at BASF, said that 2018 was another dynamic year in the resin industry, characterized by fluctuating raw materials that created challenges for BASF and its customers.
“The strong competitive dynamics that we’ve seen over recent years, both among resin producers as well as ink manufacturers, have continued to generate pressure on price and cost positions across the market,” Foster reported. “The ability to supply was also challenged as transportation availability continued to tighten, driving up costs and forcing suppliers and customers to adjust their operations and logistics. Generally, resin demand remained flat to slightly up as the industry evolution from publications to packaging has continued.”
“Lubrizol is seeing a higher level of demand, particularly in our resins for inkjet inks, which are water-based resins designed to be jettable,” said Alison Drasdo, marketing manager, printing & packaging, Lubrizol.
Bill Gustitus, global account manager at Resinall Corporation, said he can’t speak for the rest of the graphic arts resin industry, but as for Resinall, it was yet another disappointing year.
“We continue to see lower demand and decline primarily in publication heatset printing and associative demand for heatset flush and pigment dispersion vehicles,” Gustitus added.
“We have observed that more and more customers are using our products in the specialty ink market, such as graphic arts and packaging,” said a Yuenliang company executive. “We have seen growth in various fields, as well as specific industrial areas, i.e. special chemicals. For Yuenliang, packaging and application of innovative materials/inks are the areas where we have witnessed the greatest growth.”
Taiwan Nanotechnologies officials noted that resin is one of the most important materials for making digital inks, as it has a wide range of applications due to its flexibility and effectiveness on printing.
Raw Materials
Raw materials remain a concern throughout the resin supply chain.
“As we are backwardly-integrated into many of our raw materials, BASF is in a strong position to provide security of supply to our customers and the market,” Foster said. “This is further reinforced by a strong production footprint of resins and dispersions here in North America that enable us to be a responsive and reliable supplier to domestic ink manufacturers, and our global network of sites and colleagues ensure we’re able to deliver a high level of service in all regions. We’ve always worked to partner with our customers, which has become even more important in recent years as we work along the value chain to ensure that supply interruptions do not adversely impact our customers and their end-users.”
Taiwan Nanotechnologies said that pressure sensitive adhesive, epoxy resin and polyurethane are concerns. “Normally our business is based on trust. Therefore, our customers would understand if our supply line had a shortage,” the official added.
“Virtually all strategic raw materials for value generation to Resinall are tied to either crude oil or natural gas derivatives,” Gustitus said. “Availability has not and does not seem to be an issue. Price, price validity, and mechanisms to establish price stability have been a stumbling block to offer customers sustainable prices.”
“We’ve seen styrene in its normal cycle through 2018 and starting the upswing here in March as a producer is in the midst of a 45-day shutdown with seasonal usage right around the corner,” said Chomniak. “Acrylates, especially methacrylate chemistries, have continued their tightness of 2018, which we expect to continue well into 2019. There are some planned plant outages during the April and May timeframe which will not benefit the market.”
The Packaging Ink Market
Packaging inks are a strong area for ink manufacturers, and it is also an area that is facing more regulations. As a result, packaging ink customers are looking for more from resins.
“Low migration applications require higher purity products to mitigate the possibility of contaminants and residuals from migrating through the package - hence, resin suppliers need to be aware of these residuals and ways to reduce them in the manufacturing process,” Fine said. “The manufacturer will need good analytical capabilities to track and monitor these substances.”
“Relative to our resins, Lubrizol is working to ensure our products meet current and future regulatory requirements, by, for example, developing NMP and APEO-free grades, or products that meet food contact regulations where necessary,” Drasdo said.
“The evolving retail and e-commerce space presents unique opportunities for our industry but it also changing customer expectations around inks and coatings,” Foster said. “To support the growing demand for packaging inks, customers are looking for resins and raw materials that provide cost efficiency, that are easy to use, and enable them to reduce complexity and keep up with this dynamic, growing market sub-segment.
“Sustainability is also a key customer driver, but it’s also still largely undefined,” added Foster. “Bio-Renewable Content (BRC) of inks and coatings is really the yardstick that we’re all measured against and striving to meet, but there are also other ways that we are contributing to sustainable packaging. In line with brand owner commitments and focus on recyclability, we’re working on technical innovations that will broaden and improve the recyclability of the package itself and further contribute to the burgeoning circular economy.”
“Our customers are paying more attention to eco-friendly material, especially in China, where the regulations are getting more strict,” said a Taiwan Nanotechnologies official. “Picking the correct materials are the primary thing to meet our customers’ needs and pass the test report.”
“In addition to the applicability of basic design, the application of ink products in various packaging materials should also meet the requirements of different regional classifications,” said a Yuenliang official.
“Yuenliang should assist customers in customized production according to their specific needs, so as to assist customers in developing and applying products to meet the requirements of different regional classifications.”
“Yuenliang does not regard the fluctuation of raw materials as the main key impact on the company’s performance, because we recognize that the fluctuation of international trends is inevitable,” the Yuenliang executive added. “In the presence of our integrated production plan, the impact is still small. Cooperating with customers to meet the needs of different fields, making design and development for customers to develop products in new areas, is a long-term cooperation between Yuenliang and customers.”
New Technologies
New resin technologies are helping ink manufacturers meet the needs of their printing customers.
“Demands for better performance from an ink/OPV system have led us to develop a new product, HydriPrint 606, for better initial water resistance and ice crinkle resistance,” said Chomniak. “Hydrite has developed a polymer which will provide better stability, clarity, and lay in a final finished matte formula with potential gloss readings less than 5 at 60°. This emulsion will increase the flexibility of formulators to create matte, satin, semi-gloss finishes without the use of solid silica and wax powders.”
“A current focus for innovation are resins with an improved sustainability profile as we see this as a growing need for the packaging industry,” said Drasdo. “This includes resins based on bio-based, renewable or recycled materials or possibly biodegradable resins that would allow for compostability.”
“We continue to develop innovative solutions to advance our customers’ formulations,” Foster said. “In more mature segments, such as paper and paperboard, we’ve focused on improving customer cost efficiency with the introduction of our cost-in-use portfolio - including JONCRYL’s 689-A, 2190H-A, and 659-A - that eliminates the need for customers to trade-off between cost position and desired performance. For faster growth areas like flexible packaging, we’ve launched our high-performance Versamid PUR 2110. To support our customers in harnessing the growth in energy cure inks and OPV, we also launched Laromer UA 9089.”
“Taiwan Nano has first-rate grinding technique,” said a Taiwan Nanotechnologies official. “Therefore, the ingredient of our products has smaller particles in nanoscale, which increases the reliability.
“It has been our experience that the industry will accept novel technology that offers recognizable cost savings. Resinall continues its R&D effort in this regard,” Gustitus said. “Developing products with greater intrinsic value that command a higher price are generally not as commercially successful.”
Expectations for the Coming Year
Resin suppliers anticipate a mixed bag in the coming year, with packaging and inkjet inks on the rise and publication and commercial inks facing more challenges.
“The technologies of flexible displays and biological ink are partly made of resin,” said a Taiwan Nanotechnologies official. “It will be a new trend in the future. Taiwan Nano is trying to develop the above technologies for the future market.”
“Yuenliang’s future prospects are to maintain and breakthrough product limitations and further expand to a wider range of global markets,” the company official noted. “In addition, in recent years, we have focused on optimizing Yuenliang’s ability to design products, customizing specific industries and connecting industries more closely.”
“As has been evident for the last few years, we see continued declines and consolidation in publication heatset volume,” Gustitus said.
“We’re expecting 2019 to mirror 2018 in many ways,” Foster said. “Raw materials will remain an industry headwind and will continue to challenge margins along the value chain. Market volumes in graphics arts are well established and market growth is expected to be positive but low, so we expect sustained pricing pressure as printers and ink formulators work to gain every possible advantage to win business and squeeze efficiencies out of their supply chains.”
