We touched on some of them in the earlier part of this article, but pigment based inks are better for a variety of reasons.

One of the main reasons why they are better from a commercial standpoint is because they are made of naturally occurring minerals, whereas other inks are using harsh chemicals and dyes to create coloring.

Since pigment inks are natural, and they are bound in water rather than solvents, they are less hazardous and more food safe. We mentioned previously about Nestle and Swiss compliance. These certifications will be vital to any company who wants to print food labels or packaging digitally.

Another aspect that is often overlooked from water based pigment inks is the quality of the fine text. Other printing technologies have trouble printing down to 1pt or even 1/2 pt text. With the water based pigment inks from the ArrowJet Aqua 330R, these small text come out crisp and clear. Perfect for printing ingredient lists on the back of food packaging!

Finally, pigment based inks are longer lasting and have excellent UV and water resistance. There’s a reason why giclee prints are done using pigment inks. It’s because with the right materials and ink compounds, these prints can last up to 100 years! Archival pigment prints utilize the same ink formulations to assist in retaining color for longer periods of time since the pigment will not be broken apart by absorption, and then intertwined into fibers, fading, or shifting colors.