Sign Builder Illustrated contributor Jim Hingst writes: “Whether you are screen printing or painting, the coating must bond to the substrate for the service life of the product. Depending on the physical properties of the coating that you have selected for a project and the substrate to which the coating will be applied, the paint or ink adheres in a few different manners.
Some paints and inks bond through absorption into the substrate. This is how a coating will typically adhere to a porous material, such as wood or paper. Other coatings adhere chemically. Solvent screen print inks will primarily bond to a plastic, such as a pressure sensitive film, by solvating or dissolving the surface and chemically uniting with the film. Finally, coating will adhere by mechanically interlocking with the surface of the substrate. The strength of a mechanical bond is greatly dependent on how the coating wets the surface.”
To read more, check out the latest “Hingst’s Sign Post” blog.
