Inks/Paints/Coatings for Plastics, Textiles, Metals & Woods
OEKO-TEX Certified vibrant inks/colors for toys textile printing -
VOC
free, Non-toxic, Highly gloss/Matt Inks for plastics (PP, ABS, PVC, PE,
Nylon, Acrylates) -
Spray coating paints for wooden toys - Heavy metals
free Coatings and inks for diecast metals
Textiles
Fabrics commonly used in the toys industry are:
- Velboa: A soft, medium weight, short-pile textile with a velvety feel.
- Brushed Tricot- A polyester (or less frequently a polyamide) material, often, used as a lining.
- Velour- A closely woven, cut-pile fabric normally made out of cotton, wool or man-made fibre.
- Microfleece- A lightweight, double-sided polyester micro-fibre.
Chemically, all these fabrics are usually polyester, ‘acrylics’ (poly-acrylonitrile), cotton or poly-cotton (a blend of cotton and polyester).
Preferred inks
Nylon
Chemical name of Nylon is Polyamide (PA). The natural color of nylon is “off white” & “beige” but, it is commonly available in black & white color and the most commonly used nylon is “Nylon 6”. Nylon is generally used as a substitute for low strength metals. One of the advantages of nylon is that it can be produced from biomass and falls in the category of biodegradable material. Nylon is an easily moldable material, which adds an advantage in injection molding of toys.
Plastics
ABS
ABS is called a noble element in Plastics, and is an essential material used in industrial applications. Among them, toys industry is one of the most progressive one. Because of its great surface appearance, dimensionally stable nature and appropriateness for decoration, ABS material is often used for shielding applications in the fields such as toys and household appliances. A few example applications are; front surface of household appliances, rigid cases, pens, clock faces, toys for babies and toddlers.
PVC
PVC is a dense polymer compared to other substrates. It is a rigid element as it has great tensile strength. It is used in many applications due to its low-cost and desirable mechanical and physical properties. Also, it can be fabricated efficiently into both flexible as well as rigid toys. It can be transformed into a rigid industrial pipe or a plastic wrapper or a flexible bendable or a squeezable toy.
PP
Polypropylene, a crystalline thermoplastic, is a long-chained and branched substance. It is a semi-rigid material with a great chemical, fatigue & heat resistance. Wide mechanical properties range, high heat stability makes it unique and thus one of the cheapest materials among all the substrates. Therefore, it is used in many applications and toy manufacturing is one of them.
PP is Toxin-free and the inks applied on it must be toxin-free in nature to manufacture toxins free toys.
WOOD
Toys made up of natural wood, are a healthy choice for babies. Not only they are non toxic, they are durable, appealing and innocuous to the baby’s skin but we need to make sure that the inks printed on these toys are non-toxic, and sealer which is used must be non toxic too.
The inks must not have a pungent smell. The adhesive should not contain urea-formaldehyde (UF), which may lead to irritation in eyes, throat & skin or make child nauseous.
The inks must meet all the safety standards for toys which in turn will make sure that there is no risk of chemical contamination when the child puts the toy in his mouth.
Metals
Die cast metal
Aluminium alloy contains zinc and tin as alloying materials. Zinc alloy, that contains copper in the range of 55% to 95%, is amongst the best known alloys. Zinc is alloyed with lead and tin to make solder, a metal with a relatively lower melting point, is then used to make pipes, and other metallic items, such as baby stroller, metallic Avenger toys and cars. Lead free, zinc based alloy works well in spin cast vulcanized silicone molds for designs with thick cross sections and minimal details. Die cast metal contains Proprietary Grain Refiners for improved casting properties and is well suited to make toys for babies. Inks used on this material must be BPA free and compliant with all toy safety regulations.
