Smart rheology modifiers for water-based printing inks

Are you, like us, focusing on water-based technologies? With BASF rheology modifiers, you can adjust the viscosity and rheology of printing inks for both paper/board and flexible packaging applications.  

And that’s not all! Our Rheovis^® thickeners provide additional functionalities such as wetting/leveling properties, as well as health and environmental benefits, thanks to their suitability for formulations that contain no VOCs, APEOs or heavy metals.

Acrylic thickeners such as Rheovis^® AS and Rheovis^® HS need to be neutralized to a minimum pH of 6 – ideally pH 8-9, to fully activate the thickening effect. They are slightly sensitive to water as a result of their anionic nature.

• Rheovis^® AS 1125 and AS 1130 are efficient low-shear thickeners with a high yield point. Their pseudoplastic behavior results in excellent shear thinning, excellent anti-sagging and anti-settling properties.
• Rheovis^® HS 1303 EB has very high shear properties. Its outstanding Newtonian flow behavior makes it suitable for brush, roll-on and curtain coating and also for printing ink applications.

Our Rheovis^® PU and PE series of associative thickeners are a class of groundbreaking, non-ionic additives based primarily on hydrophobically modified polyether and polyurethane derivatives. They are not affected by pH; however, they are sensitive to certain glycols and glycol ethers.

• Rheovis^® PE 1330 is a top-performance, high-shear, polyether thickener with excellent flow properties.
• Rheovis^® PU 1331 is a next-generation, high-shear, polyurethane thickener offering ultra-efficient, best-in-class performance.

These are just some of the highlights of our range of BASF synthetic rheology modifiers, which includes nonionic associative (HEUR / HMPE), anionic associative (HASE) and non-associative thickener (ASE) technologies.