Is it better to use dye or pigment-based ink?

Dye ink employs colorants that are dissolved in a solvent, while pigment ink employs tiny color particles suspended in a suspension. The water soluble dye can be visualized as sugar that dissolves in water, while the pigments can be visualized as sand mixed in water.


Advantages of dye inks


Dye-based inks will have a larger colour space for more vivid and colourful prints, but they will wash off unless printed on special coated mark paper. As long as the sticker does not come into contact with something abrasive, the print is water-resistant. The original print consistency of dye and pigment inks is almost similar. The vibrancy and colour reproduction seem to be very similar. When comparing consistency and not looking side by side, it is difficult to distinguish between dye and pigment ink.


Advantages of Pigment Inks


Pigment ink has superior UV resistance and is thus used where several years of indoor and outdoor use. Pigment-based inks use solid particles of pigment powder suspended throughout the ink itself. This pigment is more stable than dye-based inks because it prevents fading for a longer period of time and does not smudge as much while drying. This makes it the ideal ink to use for documents (particularly photos) that must be stored in an archive. Inks based on pigments are ideal for printing on slicker surfaces such as transparencies and stickers. However, in comparison of dye-ink, they are not as vibrant in colours which sometimes it’s difficult to determine using the naked eye.

In conclusion, both pigment and dye inks are both great of each use. However, to optimize the type of usage of ink, printing of artworks and pictures are recommended for using the dye inks where as pigment inks are recommended for documents.

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Ink-Jet Print by EazyPrintz

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