Libra Speed LIS

Very good mesh opening for standard and 4- color process shades, i.e. printability of LIS is very simple and easy. LIS is highly suitable for flat-bed or cylinder printing machines but can also be processed in manual printing or on semi-automatic machines. Printing speed up to 2500 prints / hour.
Ink Adjustment
The ink should be stirred homogeneously before printing and if necessary during production.
Drying
Physically fast drying, at 20 °C air temperature to be overprinted within 4-6 min, at 40 °C in a tunnel dryer stackable after 20-30 sec. Drying speed and block resistance are reduced by about 20 % when overprinting. The times mentioned above vary according to the substrate, the ink film thickness, drying conditions and the auxiliaries used.
Fade resistance
Pigments of excellent fade resistance (blue wool scale 7-8) are used for the Libra Speed LIS basic shades. Provided a professional processing and max. addition of 50 % varnish or white to the standard shades, all basic shades are suitable for an outdoor use of up to 3 years referred to the middle European climate. A full-area coating with Print Varnish LIS 911 onto the whole surface will extend the possible outdoor exposure time to 4 years. When using the highly fade-resistant shades of the 7xx series, outdoor resistance can be increased to max. 5 years if placed vertically and referred to the middle European climate, north of the fortyfifth degree of latitude. In countries with higher exposure to sunlight (between the 40th parallel north and 40th parallel south) the outdoor resistance decreases. Due to the required brilliance, the PANTONE® shades are more transparent than the basic shades and do, therefore, not achieve the above mentioned high fade resistance. The pigments used are resistant to solvents and plasticizers.
Stress resistance
After proper and thorough drying, the ink film exhibits an outstanding adhesion as well as rub, scratch, and block resistance and can also be vacuum-formed. LIS exhibits a normal chemical resistance of 20 double rubs with alcohol and other usual cleaners (e. g. window cleaner). For a higher rub resistance to dry abrasion of the color shades, we recommend to overcoat with Print Varnish LIS 910 or LIS 911. For a higher chemical resistance, the color shades can be over-varnished with Print Varnish SR 910 or a suitable UV-curable varnish.

Substrates
Libra Speed LIS is suited for the following substrates:
• Acrylics (PMMA)
• PVC self-adhesive foils
• Rigid PVC
• Polystyrene (PS)
• Polycarbonate (PC)
• ABS / SAN
• Paper, pasteboard, cardboard
Since all the print substrates mentioned may be different in printability even within an individual type, preliminary trials are essential to determine the suitability for the intended use.
Field of use
Libra Speed LIS is highly suitable for the production of advertising panels and displays, or decals on fast running fully automatic machines. LIS excels thanks to a hard ink film and a high block resistance but must be tested for its suitability on plasticized and highly flexible substrates (e. g. soft PVC) before printing. For the production of double-sided stickers, we do not recommend LIS but more flexible ink systems such as Libra Print LIP or Libra Gloss LIG. For printing onto polystyrene boards, there is one chalk-writable standard LIS shade available. LIS can also be processed with a spray gun, but preliminary trials are necessary for this process. In order to avoid surface irregularities, we recommend to filter the thinned ink (25 µm screen) before processing.

Metallic Pastes

Metallic Powders

These metallics are added to LIS 910 in the recommended amount, whereas the addition may be individually adjusted to the respective application. We recommend preparing a mixture which can be processed within a maximum of 8 h since metallic mixtures usually cannot be stored. Due to their chemical structure, the processing time of mixtures with Pale Gold S 184 and Copper S 186 is even reduced to 4 h. Owing to the smaller pigment size of Metallic Pastes it is possible to work with finer fabrics like 140-31 to 150-31. Owing to the bigger pigment size of Metallic Powders we recommend the use of a coarser fabric like 100-40. Shades made of Metallic Powders are always subject to an increased dry abrasion which can only be reduced by overvarnishing. All metallic shades are displayed in the Marabu "Screen Printing Metallics" color chart.
Auxiliaries

Thinner is added to the ink to adjust the printing viscosity. For slow printing sequences and fine motifs, it may be necessary to add retarder to the thinner. The addition of Surface Additive SA 1 can increase the resistance against abrasion and other mechanical stress (max. addition 10 %). Plasticizer WM 1 is recommended if high flexibility is required from the printed ink film. This is important for thin substrates with a natural tendency to roll, as well as for applications involving cutting or die-cutting of the printed surface. The use of Plasticizer WM 1 reduces the drying speed. The degree of gloss can be reduced by adding Matting Paste ABM or Matting Powder MP, decreasing the opacity as well as the vacuumformability at the same time (white shades max. 2 % MP). Printing Modifier ES contains silicone and can be used to rectify flow problems on critical substrates. If an excessive amount is added, flow problems are increased and adhesion may be reduced, especially when overprinting. The use of ES may reduce the degree of gloss. The cleaners UR 3 and UR 4 are recommended for manual cleaning of the working equipment. Cleaner UR 5 is recommended for manual or automatic cleaning of the working equipment. For spray coating, Spray Thinner 7037 should be used, or for polystyrene PSV (addition approx. 30-40 %) after preliminary trials.
Printing Parameters
All types of commercially available fabrics and solvent-resistant stencils can be used.