Thermochromic printing inks are known for their low stability under the influence of various external conditions, but the consequences of the phenomenon on dynamic colorimetric properties have not yet been analysed. In this work, thermochromic prints were exposed to light and heated at two different temperatures, 150 and 200 °C, for varying time periods. The changes to the dynamic colour properties of the samples were described. It was found that both exposure to light and heating to high temperatures degrade the dynamic properties of thermochromic inks; however, they have different effects on the colour hysteresis. The corresponding loops contract with light exposure and heating, which is best described by the area of the entire colour loop. Exposure to light broadens the corresponding loop, while heating makes it narrower. The chemical stability of inks after exposure was also analysed by forced oxidation applying weakly ionised oxygen plasma. Stability of thermochromic samples is a combined effect of the binder, the polymeric shell and the active core inside the pigment capsules. The results show that poor stability against light and high temperatures has different origins.
Leuco dye-based thermochromic inks reversibly change from the coloured to the discoloured state in a defined, comparatively wide temperature region. Inside this region, the colour of a sample depends on the temperature and thermal history, which is known as the hysteresis effect. The colour of such a sample as a function of temperature has the shape of a hysteresis loop. Commercially available thermochromic inks have different loops, narrow or broad, and their shapes range from approximately symmetric to highly asymmetric. These properties are also important in mixtures of inks. The hysteresis loop of a mixture reveals its binary nature if the individual pure inks have well-separated hysteresis. When inks with close-separated loops, i.e. with similar activation temperatures, are mixed together, the loop of the mixture fuses together into an apparently single loop. Our research shows that some of their dynamic colour properties could be predicted in advance. However, optic and colorimetric properties of mixtures are not additive.
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