Development of aqueous pigmented inkjet

inks for industrial applications

Dr. Andy Hancock – Mexar Ltd
IMI Europe Inkjet Development Conference –
March 2017 Lausanne
• Formed In 2007 by Andy Hancock and Roger Tirrell
(current directors)
• Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
• Provide research, development and manufacture of
aqueous inks and technical fluids for industrial inkjet
applications
• Client list ranges from small companies to multinational
corporations
• Develop specific formulations for customers
• Mexar have licensed technology to other key partners
• Key competence in aqueous pigment inks for Industrial
Inkjet
Aqueous Pigment Inkjet Inks for Industrial Applications

• Why Aqueous?
• Cost
• Environmental benefits
• Why pigment inks?
• Lightfastness
• Cost
• Reduced processing (in textile)
• Demand is growing
• Inprint continues to prove Décor printing with aqueous inks is in huge
demand
• ITMA proved printing textiles with pigments is now a reality
Some Technical Challenges Facing Aqueous
Pigment Inkjet Inks in Industrial Areas
Limited choice of
raw materials

Adhesion

Removal of
water/co-solvents

Reliability

WHY?
 Complexity of the Formulation

Complexity of ink is ok! As long

as you choose the right print
head and build the right delivery
system behind it.
Water, cosolvents, Water, cosolvents,
additives additives
UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE
Binder/polymer
Dye SYSTEM
Pigment
(Especially in Single Pass –
there
Single Phaseis no place to hide here)
Multi-phase
Aqueous Pigment Inkjet Inks – Some
commercial areas of interest

Cellulose
 Pigment Inkjet
Inks for Textiles
 Inkjet Pigment Textile Printing – Technical Barriers to Entry

• Dealing With Solid Pigment

particles
• Size/Distribution
• Stability
• Including Tacky Binders into the
system
• Choosing a robust binder
• Correct Colour Gamut
• Manage expectations of
customer
• Reliability of Ink in Print Production
• Is the ink fit for end purpose?
• Printer configuration
 Hardware

• Pigment textile inks are very different from Dye

based inks
• Many companies treat them the same
• In order to push the pigment textile inks forward,
Hardware should develop alongside the ink
• Partnerships between hardware providers
and ink developers is VITAL
Pigment Textile Inks – The Balancing Act

Engineering and
Waveform

Formulation Rub Fastness

Optimisation (Binder)

Wash Fastness
(Binder)

Print Colour Density

Reliability (Pigment)
Pigment Textile Inks – The Balancing Act

Engineering and Rub Fastness

Waveform (Binder)
Formulation Wash Fastness
Optimisation (Binder)

Print Colour Density

Reliability (Pigment)
 Pre-treat, Post-treat or No-treat?!

If binder is the issue – why

not take it out of the ink and
put it in a pre-treatment?

By removing binder in the ink, you reduce your customers flexibility

dramatically.
Increased hardware required
Increased cost of raw materials
Viable Production Speeds Now a Reality

• Mexar Customer Von B

• Running Bespoke
Hardware
• Mexar Tex 1 Inks
• Production speed of
90-115 SqM/Hour
• Combination of hard
work between
developer and end
user to create a
working system
 Next Stages for Pigments in Textile Inkjet

Will we see single pass pigment systems for textile production?

YES!
(Well that is my belief anyway)
(and hope)

The technology already exists to do this!

More about that Later….
Décor Print
 Technical Barriers to Entry (Décor Print)

Pigment
Choice
INK
SUBSTRATE
Why is pigment choice so critical?

HARDWARE

METAMERISM FASTNESS
 Pigment Types (Décor Printing)

• Typical Aqueous Inkjet inks contain a CMYK set, consisting of:

• Pigment Blue 15:3
•
•
Pigment Red 122
Pigment Yellow 74
CMYK
• Pigment Black 7
• Décor printers within the décor industry have a specific requirement
• Customers pigment requirements differ
• Reds and Yellows more important than Blues
• Inorganic pigments are sometimes employed (complexity added)
• May use two or three different red pigments

CMYYYRRRBK
How do we transition from analogue to digital?

ANALOGUE Relies on ink companies

(Gravure) to invest heavily in new
pigment dispersing

Or

Pigment dispersion
companies to increase
current offering
Increase pigment Offer high
offering to market performance
CMYYYRRRBK CMYK (R)

May limit digital décor

to new designs only as digital
Compliment
printers mayCMYK
not be(R) with
able to exactly match versions
analogue
current collections
for new designs
DIGITAL
(Inkjet)
 Current Inkjet technology for Décor Printing

• Inkjet Plotters
• Used by décor houses for demo prints, proofs and very small runs
• Often employ Epson print heads
• Slow
• Pigment types do not match production inks
• Colour matching to production is difficult
• High speed Scanning machines
• Using industrial heads (faster than proofing machines)
• Small production runs
• Pigment type still not ideal
• Single pass inkjet engines
• High speed
• Expensive
• Reliability is key
 Is single pass the answer?
• Certainly for production speed, single pass is required
• KBA Rotajet can print up to 300m/minute!

• Large investment – Lots of print heads!

• Printheads should reduce in price
• Industrial Printheads last a long time
• Gravure printing hardware is not cheap (cylinder cost, storage, downtime)

• No place to hide!
• One lost nozzle can cause catastrophe
• Reliability is essential
• STABILITY STABILITY STABILITY!
• Nozzle redundancy is a luxury that pushes costs too high in many cases

• Huge learning curve

• Development companies need to invest through the growing pains to reach
the end goal. Things will go wrong, identify the problems and learn from
them
• Learning curve extends to machine manufacturers, ink developers and end
users
Examples of current single pass printers
adopting water based inks for decor
Novel Approaches
If trying to re-create digital copies of an
analogue print is too difficult……

Don’t try and copy existing products in a

digital fashion

CREATE NEW PRODUCTS!

 Introduction into the Valinge Powder Printing
Project
• TO DEVELOP AN INKJET INK SUITABLE FOR PRINTING INTO A POWDER
LAYER THROUGH A SINGLE PASS INKJET PRINTER
• THE INK WOULD PRODUCE AN IMAGE IN THE POWDER
• POWDER LAYER WOULD THEN BE PRESSED UNDER HEAT AND
PRESSURE TO CREATE A DURABLE HARD SUBSTRATE
 Powder printing substrate

Consist of
• Wood Fibres
• Thermosetting resins
• Wear resistant particles
• Pigments of choice

Production process

Scattering  Printing  Pressing

 VALINGE PROJECT – THE LEAP OF FAITH

1.2M Wide Single Pass Printer

Approx 120 Jetting assemblies
 Wood Powder & Digital Printing

Wood Powder
– the flexible printing substrate
• Full freedom in color background
• Possible to incorporate wear-pigments
in the top layer
• Three dimensional print, with partially transparent
print layer
• Comfortable Intellectual Property situation
 Wood Powder & Digital Printing

Ammonite® Creadigit • Ink recirculating at nozzle level

- the aqueous ink printing solution • High drop momentum
• Automatic cleaning
• Ink health monitoring
• 700-1800 mm width
 Final Comments

• Aqueous Pigment Inkjet Inks offer a great deal to the Industrial Print
Sector
• Within Décor and textile printing, aqueous inkjet is likely to be the
dominant inkjet chemistry (dye and pigment)
• Inkjet fits as a complimentary technology to gravure printing within the
décor market
• There are still significant investments ongoing with gravure
printing and will be into the future
• Inkjet not here to take over yet, here to compliment
• Inkjet will open décor printing up to new customers
• Novel printing approaches will be employed to create NEW
PRODUCTS – not just replacement of analogue printing with digital
• For all of the above to happen, there needs to be significant
collaboration between ink development, substrate manufacturers,
printhead manufacturers and integrators with the end users
 Final Comments - Textile

• Whilst Inkjet Pigment Textiles have been proposed for many years –
technology has been slow to adopt.
• Pigment inks and technology are now production ready
• Good production speeds are possible with cost of ink reducing
• Single pass pigment on textile is still in the future – However, we have proven
this is a possibility with single pass functional pigment inks in the Valinge
Creadigit Printer
• Significant investment required to further disrupt single pass textile market
and the market must be ready for this transition
• Pigments have a bright future in the digital textile market
 Thankyou

Questions?

Dr. Andy Hancock

Mexar Ltd
andy@mexar.co.uk
+44 (0) 771 4756341