Author Topic: Printing on Polyetheline  (Read 2045 times)

Offline im_mcguire

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Printing on Polyetheline
« on: December 11, 2015, 03:05:16 PM »
I had a client drop off these samples. I was wondering if anybody here has had experience printing on Polyetheline? I'm not sure screen printing is the right option for him, but I told him I would look into it. He is pretty adamant about us printing it for him. Attached are a sample and what the bag looks like.


Offline ericheartsu

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Re: Printing on Polyetheline
« Reply #1 on: December 11, 2015, 03:28:29 PM »
someone on the board posted along time ago, a lengthy tutorial.

I know we tried it with solvent and UV inks, and never had any luck with this stuff. Plus there was a ton of prep work that you needed to do in advance to achieve a full cure. I'd love to see if anyone else has any thoughts on it though.
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Offline Frog

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Re: Printing on Polyetheline
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2015, 03:37:03 PM »
It gets discussed here. Sounds like the material needs to be treated before you'd ever get it.
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Offline Inkworks

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Re: Printing on Polyetheline
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2015, 06:49:06 PM »
Ran away from it, don't walk, run.

PE is print receptive for a while after being molded/extruded/cast what-have-you, but shortly thereafter becomes very tough to get decent adhesion on, if you insist, it will likely need to be "primed" to get decent ink adhesion, this can be done in 3 different ways.

1 - Corona discharge. Similar to a big electrostatic shock, most automated printing presses will have this in-line with the print process. This method of priming lasts for a while, but not for-ever, after sitting for a while the material will lose the print-receptive properties that corona discharge gave it.

2 - Propane Flame treating, letting a propane flame "lick" over it will give it temporary print-receptive properties. when done properly it looks like you've fogged it with breath and then the humidity evaporates very quickly as the flame moves away. this isn't what's happening, but that's how it looks.

3 - Chemical pretreatment. nasty, solvent based primers are wiped, sprayed or dipped on and allowed to dry and act as an adhesive agent between the ink and PE. you can get spray cans of the primer at autobody supply shops as many palstic bumpers and body parts require the priming to get adequate paint adhesion.

Bags like you posted are usually web-processed with corona discharge applied seconds before printing, sometimes post-treated too in highly specialized machines meant just to print on such a difficult substrate.

You'll need a solvent based ink, or UV-cure ink meant to adhere to one of the three methods of priming, and once you are all done, the print will likely be "pretty-good" as far as adhesion, it will never truly "bite-in" to the plastic, just sit on top, sort of glued to the product, flexing, stretching or mechanical wear on the bag's print will probably show the short comings of your process unless you spend the considerable time to R&D a really top-notch process or buy a machine/process meant to do just this job in very high quantities very quickly.

I print almost anything in my shop, textiles, glass, metals, almost all plastics, rubber, silicone, ceramics, powder coating, anodizing and even rigid polyethylene and it's evil twin, polypropylene, but if someone wants me to print on PE bags (other than non-woven shopping bags) I politely decline.

Even if you gear-up and decide to print it, it's almost impossible to get paid enough to make it worth-while. The bags are just too cheap, and the print ends up costing many times what the bag is worth. Tough to sell even a $0.50 print onto a $0.08 bag.

That all said, that bag kinda looks like it may be an anti-static bag, or metalized PE.in which case the print may not be going onto PE, but onto the metalic surface put onto the bag to conduct static charges away from sensitive (and often pricey) electronics, in which case $1 a print may be easily absorbed into the products end-price, and you may find a traditional ink may adhere to the surface treatment of the bag. At my shop I have 6-7 possibly suitable different ink lines I just grab and do simple adhesion tests with, if you don't have that luxury, sending a sample of the bag to Nazdar to test is probably your best bet.
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Offline pwalsh

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Re: Printing on Polyetheline
« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2015, 07:22:41 PM »
I had a client drop off these samples. I was wondering if anybody here has had experience printing on Polyetheline? I'm not sure screen printing is the right option for him, but I told him I would look into it. He is pretty adamant about us printing it for him. Attached are a sample and what the bag looks like.

After reading your post I'm having a hard time determining the print parameters for what you're trying to produce. It would help if you could provide a little more information to include:

(1) What is the image size?
(2) How many colors are in the print?
(3) How many total prints need to be produced?
(4) What environmental conditions will the print be subject to?
(5) Are there any special requirements for ink durability or flexibility?
(6) What type of printing and curing equipment will you be using to produce this job?

The other posters are right that Polyethylene can be a tricky SOB to print on, especially if the material hasn't been recently print-treated.  Nazdar manufactures the PA Series Poly-All Screen Ink which has been designed specifically for screen printing on untreated polypropylene. Its unique formulation makes pre-treatment such as flaming or surface coating unnecessary.

Poly-All will perform satisfactorily on most polypropylene surface. However, since there is considerable variation in the formulation of substrate materials, the user must always pretest the specific substrate for adhesion and product resistance prior to a production run.  PA Series inks exhibit a semi-gloss finish. When thoroughly dried, PA Series ink has very good flexibility and durability.

More information on Nazdar Poly-All screen-printing inks is contained in the attached Tech Data Sheet or online at; https://sourceone.nazdar.com/P/3382/PA-Poly-All-Screen-Ink---Printing-Colors



Peter G. Walsh - Executive Vice President
The M&R Companies - Roselle, IL USA
Email:  peter.walsh@mrprint.com
Office 847-410-3445 / Cell 913-579-6662

Offline sireprinting

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Re: Printing on Polyetheline
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2015, 11:39:59 AM »
For sure its screen printing on Polyetheline
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Offline Sbrem

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Re: Printing on Polyetheline
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2015, 12:14:05 PM »
we printed on polyethylene many years ago; we used a multi purpose ink, and had to apply a clear primer (hand sprayed with a spray bottle). The ink stuck just fine. I tried to find the primer in the shop, but no luck (it was a good 20 years ago).

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Offline Frog

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Re: Printing on Polyetheline
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2015, 12:21:21 PM »
Steve.s chemical-type treatment notwithstanding, perhaps the sample may have been printed closer to the initial manufacturing end of the chain, making the required pre-treatment easier.
I could see these printed on rolls in facilities specializing in packaging.
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Offline im_mcguire

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Re: Printing on Polyetheline
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2015, 12:24:16 PM »
Thank you everyone for the info.  With that said, I will be passing on this job.  Probably not work my time or effort.  Thanks again everyone, this is why I love this site...

Thanks again everyone!