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MEK Verses Acetone - The Safety Arguments

MEK  or Acetone based inks - which is safer?

It has recently been suggested by some industry suppliers that Acetone based inks are "safer" than MEK based inks.   But is this really true?   To ascertain this, there are several issues that need to be considered in this debate.

MEK and Acetone are actually both in the same chemical family - Ketones.  MEK is also known as Methyl Ethyl Ketone, 2-butanone or Methyl Acetone  whilst Acetone is also known as 2-propanone or Dimethly Ketone.   So when Ketones in general are considered hazardous, how can one "ketone" be more or less harmful than another "ketone"?

Other questions relate to the differences in health hazards associated with each solvent and their relative TWA and STEL exposure limits.  More importantly however, we need to examine these in perspective with the actual or realistic exposure levels workers experience from inkjet coders in normal production environments.   Also the relative levels of solvent in the air verses human detectable odor is very relevant.

All of these issues and questions as well as others, are examined in the Technical Bulletin "Safer Chemicals - Real or Perceived?".  The Technical Bulletin examines the practical use of these solvents and essentially concludes that in inkjet applications, there is no greater or lesser health hazards in using either MEK or Acetone based inks.

For more details contact us on 1800 465 000 or email to inkjet@inkjet.com.au