Storing offset ink: SDS, temperature, and shelf life

Read the SDS for storage, the TDS for printing

The safety data sheet tells flammability, ventilation, and personal protection. The technical data sheet tells tack, set, and use window. Mixing the two documents is how plants invent a “HuiRun spec” that does not exist.

Store conventional tins cool, dry, and upright. Store UV away from daylight and from mercury/LED stray light in the ink room. Pouches hate punctures and UV sitting in a window.

• Record manufacture date the day the pallet lands.
• FIFO: first in, first out, by lot, not by pretty label.
• Do not freeze water-based varnish; do not bake UV ink in a container yard.
• Keep SDS in the language your warehouse accepts.
• Incoming inspection article covers drawdowns after storage.

Typical windows are manufacturer windows

Unopened conventional inks often quote multi-year storage. UV is often shorter. Aqueous varnish can be months to a couple of years. Heat on the voyage eats the window. Treat the printed date as planning, then verify body on arrival.

Opened packs

Skin, water take-up, and shade shift. Label leftovers. Vacuum pouches that have been clipped are not a new vacuum. Transfer to a small tin if you must keep a remainder.

What HuiRun keeps

We keep warehouse retains of lots we ship for a typical window measured in months. That is logistics, not a legal archive of every gram.

What the quote covers

We did not print the manufacture date. If a lot is outside the maker window, we will say so before you put it on press.