What is Ink made of?

[MrZhuKeeper]

When I get the chance, I'll run a gas chromatography on my Noodler's black ink to see if it contains any VOC (volatile organic compounds). I'll post a new topic when I can. That will take at least two weeks to do though.

[Sholom]

Some thoughts based on my experience as a formulations chemist. I would be extremely surprised if any modern ink contained more than traces (impurities) of volatile organic solvents. There really is no need for them. The humectants (water-soluble and hygroscopicorganics, like glycerine or any of the many glycols) provide some additional solvency for certain of the dyes in addition to their function of keeping the ink from drying too quickly on the nib (pure water inks tend to clog). The list of ingredient types given earlier is correct and the Sanford MSDS is consistent with an old Waterman ink patent I found (don't have the number handy at the moment but I think it was from the '30s or '40s so harder to search for than later patents). I have made ink for my pens when I had my own laboratory company. They contain water, polyethylene glycol, a low-foam surfactant, a preservative, an anti-corrosion agent, and dyes. This is NOT a home project as the preservatives are quite toxic in their undiluted forms and some of the other materials are not available to the casual consumer. Inks using colloidal dyes, such as the Noodlers water-resistant and bulletproof inks and the carbon inks, probably contain one or more additional materials that act as dispersants to keep the colloidal dye particles from clumping together and causing clogging.

 

My ink works (and has good "open time", i.e. slow drying on the nib but faster drying than some of the "boutique" inks) but I can assure you that companies like Noodlers have access to much better dyes (brighter, purer, and more stable) than what I could buy in small quantities from scientific supply houses. Nathan Tardiff gets credit for going through the hard work of finding ways to use the colloidal dyes, such as some of the cellulose binding ones, in fountain pen ink. Note that some of the problems people have reported with these inks undoubtedly result from contamination (old ink in pens, excess water, or who knows what) interfering with the functioning of the dye dispersants mentioned above. Problems with these inks will be minimized if extra care is taken to make sure your pens are completely clean and dry before switching to the bulletproof inks. Slight precipitation, especially of the black component, of the near and fully bulletproof inks is OK but copious settling out of solids and especially the formation of clumps of solids are an indication the ink has gone bad in some way and should be discarded. Don't try filtering Noodlers or carbon-based inks that have done this. What comes through the filter is likely to be bad for your pens or at least not write well.

[DerMann]

Do you think there are harmful vapors from ink?

 

I use a lot of Noodler's Ink everyday and I have been worrying about the vapors I have been breathing. I don't want to be breathing any carcinogenic stuff or things harmful to the CNS when I am writing 5-8 pages of stuff everyday.

 

Have you tried Noodler's black ink? The one that is supposed "bulletproof." If you have Noodler's ink, can you analyze it. I just want to know what's in the vapor. You could just do a gas chromatography on it or something. I would analyze it myself, but I do not have the access to the instruments.

 

So long as you don't sit for hours on end huffing ink straight from the bottle, the chance of any harm coming from writing with a particular ink are astronomical.

[Tweel]

Inks using colloidal dyes, such as the Noodlers water-resistant and bulletproof inks...

"Colloidal", eh? That's the first time I've read that regarding Noodler's, and I think that explains it...

 

Note that some of the problems people have reported with these inks undoubtedly result from contamination (old ink in pens, excess water, or who knows what) interfering with the functioning of the dye dispersants mentioned above.

I recently had to replace my old bottle of Bulletproof Black, because it just seemed to "collapse". The stuff completely separated. I could remix it by shaking, but it separated again fairly quickly, and had lost a lot of its lubrication -- almost felt gritty. It also stopped bonding to cellulose, although I don't know how (or if) that's related. BTW, this seemed to happen when the ink got really cold, in a cabinet against an outside wall.

 

Thanks for the datum!

 

-- Brian

 

editing: miniscule

Edited January 25, 2009 by Tweel

[Sholom]

If the ink froze (even a little bit) or underwent a sudden, large temperature drop, that could destabilize the dispersion and give the results you describe. By the way, your description is an excellent guide for when to discard these inks, and "collapse" of the dye dispersion is a good way to put it. I don't have access to particle-size measuring equipment but your experience is entirely consistent with my assumption that these dyes are colloidal. The opacity of the Swisher/Noodler Aquamarine in the bottle suggests particle size roughly greater than around 300 nm (nanometer = ten-millionth of a centimeter so no problem flowing through a fountain pen). The flow and non-settling requirements probably dictate the average particle size be less than around 2000 nm. If the dye particles start clumping (technically "flocculating"), the average size can go up indefinitely, in the worst case a hard solid at the bottom of the bottle. The ink should be discarded long before it gets to that point.

[MarkTrain]

I will agree the above. Noodler's BP inks have all the characteristics of being colloid suspensions. The dropping out or aggregation can be due to a number of things including freezing and salting (addition of salts). I have seen this with suspensions of melanin (think sepia ink). I have been able to partially spin down the black and aquamarine inks in a centrifuge which should not happen for a true solution. Just as the average particle size can be measured by light scattering, one can tell by eye that the odd appearance of these inks is due to light scattering of the particulates in solutions. The black ink is much more flatter in appearance that say Pelikan brilliant black and this is due to light scattering which gives a flat absorption spectra. The milky appearance of the blue inks is also due to light scattering. Although I can only guess at what the black ink is a suspension of (carbon black?), the blue (actually bluish-cyan) inks I have identified as being suspensions of copper complexes, most likely copper phthalocyanine (phthalo blue).

 

Mark

Edited February 1, 2009 by MarkTrain