American Can Company

James D Specht

Lee Murray

Lee J Murray, Jr

Stanley E Rohowetz

Ink compositions are provided which are suitable for use in ink jet printing on coated or uncoated substrates to form images which are highly resistant to abrasion and penetration by virtue of the penetrating characteristics of a select solvent system. The ink compositions may be of the binder or binderless type and contain, in the preferred embodiments, from about 0.1% to about 5% by weight of a colorant, optionally, from about 3 to 30% by weight of a soluble resole resin, a penetrating solvent consisting of tetrahydrofuran, an auxiliary solvent comprising a lower aliphatic alcohol, ketone, ether or aliphatic amide, a surfactant and an electrolyte.

Jet ink compositions containing tetrahydrofuran solvent

An ink composition is provided which is suitable for use on bare metal, for example, tinplate or aluminum as well as on such metals having organic coatings applied to surfaces thereof. The compositions may also be used on plastic containers or retortable pouches comprising plastic or plastic-metal foil laminates. The inks are suitable for use in contact printers or in jet ink printing techniques. The ink compositions are thermotropic, i.e. they change color in the presence of steam at elevated temperature and are useful as sterilization indicators. The inks comprise essentially a binder resin component, an alcohol solvent and a colorant which reacts in the presence of steam at elevated temperature to produce a visible and permanent color change.

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Neenah, WI, United States of America

James D Specht