By: Shantinique Hogan

Chemistry 2 – 6th hour

Inks are found in almost every aspect of human activity . What is ink? It is an organic or inorganic pigment or dye dissolved or suspended in a solvent--essentially the same as paint. The first man-made ink appeared in Egypt about 4,500 years ago and was made from animal or vegetable charcoal (lampblack) mixed with glue. Today's inks are divided into two classes: printing inks and writing inks. Printing inks are further broken down into two subclasses: ink for conventional printing, in which a mechanical plate comes in contact with or transfers an image to the paper or object being printed on; and ink for digital nonimpact printing, which includes ink-jet and electro photographic technologies. Color printing inks are made primarily with linseed oil, soybean oil, or a heavy petroleum distillate as the solvent (called the vehicle) combined with organic pigments. Black ink is made using carbon black. So what does the future hold for ink? The advent of personal computers, personal electronics, and the Internet may one day replace libraries full of printed books and periodicals with electronic products.

What Is Ink Made Of

The pigments are made up of salts of multiring nitrogen-containing compounds (dyes), such as yellow lake, peacock blue, phthalocyanine green, and diarylide orange. Inorganic pigments also are used in printing inks to a lesser extent. Some examples are chrome green (Cr2O3), Prussian blue (Fe4[Fe(CN)6]3), cadmium yellow (CdS), and molybdate orange (a mix of lead chromate, molybdate, and sulfate).

Websites

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