Free Sample Adhesion Testing
Adhesion is engineered at the substrate, not the print. The single most expensive mistake a manufacturer can make when evaluating any direct-to-object decoration — pad printing, multi-pass inkjet, or single-pass digital — is to buy the printer first and figure out adhesion second. EPS reverses that order. Send us a small batch of your actual parts. Our applications engineers will test the right ink series and pretreatments for your substrate, your geometry, and the durability your end use requires. We send the decorated samples back with a written report and an engineer-to-engineer phone call.
Why this matters across every ink chemistry
Every industrial decoration process depends on the same fundamental: the ink must bond to the substrate, and the substrate must accept the bond. The chemistry is different between processes — but the validation principle is the same.
- Solvent-based pad-print inks rely on evaporation-driven cure and substrate wetting. Adhesion depends on cleanliness, surface energy, and ink-substrate chemical compatibility.
- Bi-component (catalyzed) pad-print inks add a cross-linking hardener that bonds chemically to the substrate. Durability rises sharply but ratio control is critical.
- UV-cured inks — used across multi-pass and single-pass inkjet — rely on mechanical adhesion via UV-LED crosslinking. Surface energy and pretreatment are the levers.
- Water-based and hybrid inks have their own surface-energy and dwell-time profiles. Different rules, same outcome question: will it pass the end-use test?
Whichever ink chemistry your process uses, the adhesion question is the same: will it survive the specific durability requirement your end-use demands? That is what EPS tests.
Testing protects against four common failure modes
- Field failures. Prints that pass cross-hatch and crock tests in the lab can still fail in the customer’s hands. Real adhesion validation tests against temperature, humidity, abrasion, chemistry, and time.
- Mis-specified pretreatment. A corona or plasma pretreat on the bench is meaningless if the production cell does not integrate it inline. Adhesion testing reveals which pretreatment your line will need — corona, plasma, flame, or chemical primer.
- The wrong ink for your end-use. Solvent vs UV vs water-based, single-component vs bi-component, primer-required vs primer-free, expanded gamut vs CMYK — the right choice depends on the substrate as much as the printer.
- Surface contamination you can’t see. Mold release agents, plasticizer bloom, and handler oils defeat adhesion silently. Lab testing catches these before they show up at the customer’s facility.
How the testing works
The process takes about two weeks end-to-end.
- You ship us five to ten sample parts. We confirm receipt and assign an applications engineer to your job. Standard turnaround: results in 10 business days.
- We characterize the substrate. Surface-energy measurement using dyne kits. Water-droplet wetting analysis (beading vs sheeting). Material identification if not provided. Contamination screening.
- We print samples across multiple ink chemistries. Solvent, bi-component, UV-LED, water-based — whatever is appropriate for the substrate and end-use. Multiple pretreatment options are evaluated in parallel.
- We run adhesion validation tests. Cross-hatch tape pull (ASTM D3359), pencil hardness scratch test, solvent rub, and any application-specific durability test (autoclave, dishwasher cycles, chemical exposure, abrasion, outdoor weather, sterilization) that your end use requires.
- You receive the decorated samples back, plus a written report. Recommended ink series, recommended pretreatment, predicted durability, and any flags that affect ink-substrate compatibility at production scale.
- Engineer-to-engineer phone call. Our applications team walks you through the report and answers process questions. There is no obligation to move forward.
What we test against
EPS maintains an applications library covering forty years of installations across every major industrial vertical. We have characterized adhesion on:
- Polyolefins — polypropylene, polyethylene, polypropylene-blends, recycled polyolefin grades
- Engineering plastics — ABS, polycarbonate, PETG, PVC, PEEK, PEI
- Glass and ceramics — silica glass, frit-coated glass, ceramic substrates (frit-fired and acrylic-cured)
- Metals — aluminum (anodized + bare), stainless steel, titanium, treated aluminum bottles
- Coated and laminated substrates — powder-coated metal, vinyl laminates, lacquered finishes
- Medical-grade polymers — Class VI biocompatibility-validated materials, including pad-print on syringe barrels and catheters
- Wood, MDF, and decorative laminates — for architectural and consumer-decor applications
Ready to ship a sample?
Fill out a short intake form — substrate, application, durability spec, return shipping address — and an EPS Applications Engineer will respond within one business day with our receiving address and any clarifying questions.
Have a complex application or volume program?
For large-volume programs, regulated-medical applications, or substrates with proprietary chemistry, we run extended evaluation projects under NDA. Talk to a sales engineer to set one up.