page_title: Ink
section_title: Types
hierarchical_section_title: Ink / Types
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Tintenstrich eines Füllers bei ca. 50-facher Vergrößerung.
context_page_description: Ink is a liquid or paste that contain pigments or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thicker inks, in paste form, are used extensively in letterpress and lithographic printing.
  Ink can be a complex medium, composed of solvents, pigments, dyes, resins, lubricants, solubilizers, surfactants, particulate matter, fluorescents, and other materials. The components of inks serve many purposes; the ink's carrier, colorants, and other additives affect the flow and thickness of the ink and its dry appearance.
  In 2011 worldwide consumption of printing inks generated revenues of more than 20 billion US dollars. Demand by traditional print media is shrinking, on the other hand more and more printing inks are consumed for packagings.
context_section_description: Ink formulas vary, but commonly involve two components:
  Colorants
  Vehicles (binders)
  Inks generally fall into four classes:
  Aqueous
  Liquid
  Paste
  Powder
caption: Magnified line drawn by a fountain pen.
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