In today’s pad printing ink product spotlight series, we review the BX Series pad printing ink. In the last spotlight article, we reviewed the SE Series silicone screen printing ink for pad printing on silicone rubber. The Natron® BX series is an excellent ink for metals, plastics, rubberized plastics, and composite materials, among others.

Our Natron® portfolio has different inks, each with different printing, adhesion, and finish characteristics. We developed different inks because each substrate and printing application is unique. Through science, we develop inks to adhere to a wide range of materials. As a result, many companies rely on us and our inks to do the toughest printing jobs.

The BX Series is one of the best inks we have ever developed. This ink packs many features, including efficiency. Natron BX series pad printing ink helps decorators streamline the pad printing process by reducing frequent ink changes between materials.

Let’s review some of the features that make the BX series the best pad printing ink in the industry.

  • High opacity: this ink makes it easy to print on dark and transparent materials. This enables decorators to deliver truly vibrant definition pictures.
  • Very high abrasion resistance—BX series ink boasts exceptional abrasion, water, humidity, weather elements, and abrasion resistance. This ensures that the printed materials maintain their integrity and vibrancy even in the harshest environmental conditions.
  • This tampo printing ink offers excellent printability due to its special ingredients. As a result, prints are crisp and clear. Whether you are printing bold or fine detail, this series enables intricate designs and vibrant colors to come to life with stunning clarity.
  • Safe—the Natron® BX series features durable, low-VOC, non-toxic ingredients. This makes this ink excellent for medical devices, packaging containers, toys, power tools, etc.

Overview of BX Series Pad Printing Ink

First and foremost, the BX satisfied a wide range of compliance requirements. These include CLP/GHS, EN 71-3, Reach, RLS-EuPIA, RoHS, EuPIA Swiss, and more, making an ideal medical-grade ink. Use this ink to print on many medical materials, such as polyphenylsulfone (PPSU).
Additionally, this ink is free of alogens, animal-origin ingredients, aromatic hydrocarbons, and Azo dyes. Also, this ink is free from bisphenol A (BPA), cyclohexane, conflict minerals, formaldehyde, G-B ester, latex, melamine, PAH, persistent organic pollutants, and phthalates. The fact that this ink does not contain these harmful chemicals means that it is not only safe for the environment, but also a good ink to print on many consumer and medical products.

When reviewing the adhesion characteristics of this ink, there is no limit to what materials it will adhere to. Examples of these materials include ABS, lacquered surfaces, metal, polycarbonate, polymethacrylate, polystyrene, polyurethane, and rigid PVC. This ink is also excellent for printing on pre-treated PETG, polyacetal, polyester, polyethylene, and polypropylene.

Lastly, the BX series has a very high gloss finish and a very pleasant smell. It prints as a single or two-component ink. Two-component pad printing inks use a hardener such as the i-300x to improve abrasion, UV, and chemical resistance.

This ink is available in 12 intermixable standard colors, which can be viewed in the BX Series Color Chart.

To learn more about this ink and our other product offerings, contact us or visit our YouTube channel. Also, check out our support page.