Archival dye inks
From The Glossary of Digital Photography
One of four types of inks that are generally used in ink jet printers. The four types are dye inks (also called dye-based inks), archival dye inks, pigmented inks, and pigment inks. Dye inks usually have brighter, more vibrant colors than other types of ink, but are not as long lasting. Archival dye inks are those designed with special formulations to produce inks that are more fade-resistant than are regular dye inks. A British firm, Lyson, was the first to offer these inks. Their first formulations were much longer lasting, but color saturation and gamut were poor. Later formulations had better color gamut, but longevity was not much improved over regular dye inks. The term archival is a bit of a misnomer with regard to the ink alone. To maintain any increase in longevity, paper choice is important. Glossy and coated papers provide more gamut and much shorter longevity. Accelerated testing is usually done to test for the longevity of various ink and paper combinations.
