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Gel pens, also known as water pens, originated in Japan and are a novel writing tool that is currently popular in the world. The gel pen has the advantages of both the fountain pen and the ballpoint pen. It is comfortable to write, the ink viscosity is low, and easy-to-lubricate substances are added. The viscosity of the writing medium is between water-based and oily, so it is smoother than ordinary oil-based ballpoint pens. An upgraded product of oil-based ballpoint pens.

Although China has become a big pen-making country, it is not yet a strong pen-making country. Because the production technology and materials, especially the ink and pen tips, have not been fully solved, most of China's pen products are popular products, and the price of the products is relatively low. The high-end product market is occupied by foreign companies.

Ink is one of the necessary writing materials for people in all social activities. China's pen-making industry has been established in the early 1950s, and now it has a considerable scale, creating a relatively complete production system with multiple categories and varieties. According to data, there are more than 500,000 employees in the pen industry across the country. In 2004, the direct sales value of pen products (including pen products, ink, and pen parts) provided by China's pen industry to domestic and foreign markets reached about 113%. As much as 100 million yuan, of which the export value is about 6.86 billion yuan, and the direct sales value to the domestic market is about 4.44 billion yuan. The products are exported to more than 100 countries and regions. In recent years, the output of fountain pens ranks first in the world (about 165 million), the output of ballpoint pens is 15 billion, ranking first in the world, and the annual output of mechanical pencils is 500 million, ranking first in the world. three. The output and export volume of various pen products in China have accounted for the largest in the world, and China's pen industry has become a major producer and exporter of the pen industry in the world.

The key to the research and development of neutral ink is: the formula of the ink; the processing technology matching the formula; the matching of the ink and the pen. First of all, in the development of the formula, it is necessary to make the ink have the appropriate viscosity, surface tension, pH value, not only to ensure that the pen is smooth and not leaking, but also to ensure the light resistance, water resistance, heat resistance, cold resistance, moisture retention, and permeability of the ink. To solve the stability of the ink, the ink will not deteriorate after a long time of storage, and there will be no delamination and precipitation. It is also necessary to ensure the safety of the ink, non-toxic and non-corrosive.

In addition to taking into account the advantages of oil-based ballpoint pens and water-based ballpoint pens, gel pens are required to have the following quality indicators.

(1) The versatility of the ink should be strong, which can not only cooperate with the pen head more widely, and achieve better writing performance, so as to better become the supporting product of the pen factory.

(2) It is required that the ink should have corresponding false shrinkage and viscosity denaturation, and the intermittent performance of the ink should be long to achieve a longer capping time.

(3) The ink must reach a certain particle fineness, which is lower than the gap between the ball and the ball seat, and has a strong dispersing ability to prevent the blockage of the pen from affecting writing.

(4) The stability of the ink should be strong, and it can write normally under certain room temperature conditions, and the ink is uniform and not delaminated.

(5) There is enough writing length, that is, a tube of ink can draw a longer line on the marking machine.

Development Mechanism and Manufacturing Process of Neutral Ink

The performance and index requirements of neutral ink are very strict. Its development is a complex condition, and the technical viscosity and the viscosity of the mixed ink are the key issues affecting the quality of the ink. The viscosity of neutral ink is not a simple concept of our daily thickening. Neutral ink has a certain consistency and viscosity, and general ink has stamping denaturation and strong false shrinkage. On the one hand, it can protect the dispersed pigment particles from being independent. On the other hand, it can have shear stress and shear rate to ensure that the high viscosity of the ink in the refill achieves the purpose of preventing the tip from leaking. When the ball is rotated to cut the ink, it has a lower viscosity, which meets the requirements of smooth writing without lag. If the viscosity of the ink is too high, the ink in the ink storage tube may not be written cleanly; if the viscosity is too low, water will appear, and the pen will be over-inked. It is a very critical process to choose a suitable thickener and to prepare it carefully.

There are many general thickeners, and natural colloids and chemical organic compounds are commonly used, such as starch, dextrin, animal and vegetable glues, synthetic resins, and acrylic acid types of natural colloids. It is very beneficial to the development of inks with special performance requirements. However, matching is difficult, some have poor temperature performance, some have poor freeze-thaw stability, and some cause particles to expand on the surface of particles to produce soft agglomeration. Therefore, the addition of the thickener should give full play to its own characteristics and should not affect the dispersion of the pigment, which is difficult to achieve. Some people use a polymer copolymer alkali-activated thickener, because the molecular branch of the thickener and the pigment and resin particles are entangled with each other, and crosslinking occurs to generate a network structure, so that the system has structural viscosity, and at the same time the thickening agent. The ink has a strong thixotropy and a certain thickening effect, which ensures that the ink reaches the relevant indicators in the viscosity.