Sciencemadness Discussion Board

to increase surface tension of silkscreen surface

ahse0w - 30-12-2010 at 18:08

does anyone knows how to increase the surface energy of a silkscreen surface? not increase the surface tension of the ink, but to increase the surface energy of the painted surface after the paint has been cured..

i can get about 36dynes/cm now and i want to increase it to 40dynes/cm..

the strange thing is that the surface energy really varies alot through different batches of paint.. i am also wondering if this is natural.. and if there is any way to stabilize it.

the only method i have to increase the surface energy of the surface is by cleaning it with ethanol.. it will increase the surface energy to ~40dynes/cm.. but its only temporary.. after a few days it will drop again..

would appreciate any help i can get!!
thanks a million!

[Edited on 31-12-2010 by ahse0w]

bahamuth - 30-12-2010 at 18:56

Perhaps add something like Arabic gum or some of the other "gums" out there.

Apparently I became a poster whore when I am drunk...

hissingnoise - 31-12-2010 at 09:35

The only thing I can figure out is that you're having an adhesion problem with your pigment!
We don't know what type of surface you're printing onto, or the type of paint/pigment being used.
There are a number of ways to increase surface energy but some are surface specific.