Optical brighteners for printing inks and UV varnish
Print buyers judge a job on the white of the substrate as much as on the colours laid over it. A brightener in the varnish or the white ink lifts that base, and in UV systems it does so without adding a drying step.
What the grade has to survive
Four things that decide the choice
- Raises substrate whiteness under the ink film
- Solvent grades for oil-based, water grades for aqueous
- Stable to UV cure without yellowing the varnish
- Improves apparent colour saturation of the printed image
These are the constraints we work through with customers on this application. Everything on this page traces back to the published data for the grades listed below.
Grades for inks & uv varnish
Optical brightener OB
The workhorse of the benzoxazole family and the grade most plastics buyers are matching when their specification says Uvitex OB or Tinopal OB.
Optical brightener FP-127
A methoxy-substituted distyryl biphenyl built for soft PVC.
Optical brightener BA
C.I.
Optical brightener CBS-X
The detergent industry's benchmark, and the grade behind a Tinopal CBS-X specification.
Background reading on inks & uv varnish
OB for Ink: Enhancing Whiteness, Brightness, and Color Performance
Ink appearance plays a decisive role in product perception and end-use quality. To meet increasingly high visual standards, ink manufacturers
Enhance Gloss and Clarity with OBA for UV Varnishes
UV varnishes are widely used in coatings, printing, and packaging to create bright, glossy finishes and protect surfaces. They are
Optimizing Color Paste Performance with OBA for Color Pastes
Color pastes are essential raw materials in the coatings and paint industry. Their tinting strength, whiteness, and brightness directly affect
Related markets
Plastics
In a polymer the brightener has to dissolve into the melt, survive the process temperature and then stay put.…
Textiles
Fibre chemistry decides everything here. Cotton takes an anionic stilbene, polyester takes a non-ionic…
Detergents
A detergent brightener has a harder job than a textile one: it has to survive the box or the bottle, deposit…
Other application briefs
White masterbatch
A masterbatch concentrates the brightener twenty to a hundred times over the let-down dosage, so…
PVC foam board
Foam board yellows for two reasons at once - thermal stress during expansion and the intrinsic cast…
PVC pipe & profile
Pipe and profile are extruded hot, run long, and are judged on appearance for decades in sunlight.…
PP woven bags
Woven sack tape is drawn hot and thin, often from a resin blend that includes recycled material.…
EVA shoe soles
Footwear foam is the application KCB was developed for. The expansion step destroys a poorly chosen…
Blown film
In film the brightener has to raise apparent whiteness without touching clarity, and it has to do…
Send us the inks & uv varnish brief
Substrate, process temperature, whiteness target and trial quantity. That is everything we need to name a grade.