Big Picture - April 2016 - (Page 20)

THINKING ABOUT INK Five trends in product development that impact wide-format printing. T By VINCE CAHILL he history of ink began in China about 43 centuries ago, while the story of inkjet can be traced to an obscure patent issued in the UK in 1867. The wide-format inkjet systems that interest Big Picture readers began to emerge in the late '80s; since then, both the printheads and the inks that flow through them have evolved, expanded in capability, and permitted inkjet to BIG PICTURE April 2016 address a multitude of new applications. 20 Today's users are asking inkjet inks to do more and perform at a higher standard. In response, ink chemists are refining their processes, purifying their ingredients, and developing new formulations. Printheads impose their own requirements on the inks that pass through them. Typically, inkjet formulations need to have very low viscosities compared with inks used in analog processes such as screen printing and lithography, and pigmented inks must use more highly refined particles. With inks for piezo heads, preventing air infiltration improves shelf life and helps to ensure that the ink channels aren't blocked during printing, causing jet-outs. Ink manufacturers are continuing to respond to the requirements and challenges presented by the technology while developing new solutions for growing market opportunities. Those new applications, and the understandable desire that ink manufacturers have to address them with a variety of ink technologies (including water based, mild solvent based, strong solvent based, UV curable, and more), are driving a number of key trends in ink technology development today. PLAYERS AND PARTNERSHIPS EMERGE One key trend is growth in the number of ink manufacturers formulating products for the inkjet market; at least six of the world's 20 largest ink producers offer inkjet products, including Sun Chemical, Inx Digital, Fujifilm North America, SICPA, Wikoff Color, and Royal Dutch Van Son. As conventional print technology users begin to recognize the advantages of inkjet processing for developing prototype and sample products and for short to medium runs, they are adopting inkjet production methods and seeking inkjet ink and coating chemistries. Because many of these companies do not have the inkjet expertise needed to integrate inkjet printing systems and formulate inkjet chemistry, they call on companies that do. Behind the products that many ink suppliers bring to market is the work of other companies with components and formulation expertise. Examples include the chemistries of BASF, the photo-initiators of Sartomer in UV-curable inks and coatings, and the dispersants and primer coatings of companies like Sensient, DuPont, and Lubrizol that are becoming key to the growth of digital textile printing. These behind-the-scenes suppliers of inkjet ink components and formulation expertise are also growing, driving further innovation as inkjet adoption expands. TEXTILES ON THE RISE Market analysts have been predicting that the digital printing market in North America would explode for more than two decades, but now it's happening, and not just in the soft signage and direct-to-garment segments that are already established. Last November at the ITMA show in Milan - by far the largest tradeshow for the textile manufacturing industry - pigmented inks were among the most talked-about product introductions. These new formulations provide softer hand, improved light- and wash-fastness, and wider color gamut than previously available formations. ITMA pigmented ink launches included Kornit's NeoPigment Pure process-color inks; the Velvet Jet line from Bordeaux Digital Print Inks, promoted as a universal ink set for all fabrics; MTex Solutions' inks printing on the firm's rebranded line of Mimaki printers using Ricoh Gen5 printheads; Durst's Alpha Ink P, marketed for a wide variety of textiles; and a new line from MS Printing Solutions, designed to print pretreated fabrics through Kyocera KJ4B printheads. It has also been reported that Inx Digital is due to launch a pigmented aqueous ink for high-volume textile printing. DYE SUBLIMATION IN ACTION Both direct inkjet printing of textiles with disperse dyes and indirect transfer printing of textiles and other receptive substrates with related dye-sublimation inks continue to grow in many applications, including flexible signage and apparel.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Picture - April 2016

Big Picture - April 2016
Contents
Insight
Wide Angle
Upfront
Inside Output
Thinking About Ink
Breaking Down the Walls
R+D
Job Log

Big Picture - April 2016