2012 Ink Report

Among print media consumables, ink chemistries and innovations continue to change and evolve. A case in point is Landa Labs’ microscopic, nanographic ink technology introduced at drupa three months ago. What will be the next ink breakthrough in the wide- and grand-format market? In this, its fourth Annual Ink Report, Wide-Format Imaging explores the current state of the ink market and examines the trends affecting your business—and related products to look for at Graph Expo in Chicago come October.

Industrial Strength White

Add white ink to HP Scitex FB7500/7600 industrial flatbed presses by installing an upgrade kit and white ink kit. At drupa, Hewlett-Packard announced the FB7500/FB7600 White Ink Kit as an ideal way for printers to realize new opportunities, applications, and revenue streams. The kit allows for expansion into a range of high-value, high-quality, short-run applications, HP said, such as window graphics, backlit production, and even printing directly on corrugated packaging media with no need for litho lamination.

Users can add white to the full set of six process colors to output high-opacity and rich, saturated color on clear or colored materials—all on a single press, without switching inks. The end result is high-value prints with excellent ink flexibility and abrasion resistance. Delivery is faster because there is no loading/unloading or moving between presses. In addition to saving on labor and prepress costs, the kit enables greater efficiency compared to alternative analog solutions.

Meanwhile, HP FB225 White Scitex Ink was designed with the HP Scitex industrial press and tested for optimal performance with its X2 printheads. Operator intervention is minimized thanks to a pair of five-liter ink containers and a large in-system white ink reservoir. The ink is designed with two white channels and a fast curing time to enable high system productivity.

Next-Gen UV Inkjet

And with the growth in single-pass, piezo-electric technology requiring robust UV-curable inks, Agfa has extended its family of Agora inks to bring high-performance benefits to a broader range of applications, including wide-format. Already established in the document and packaging sectors, these inks have now also been formulated for use in industrial applications.

Agfa’s UV-curable inks are now available for system integrators, OEMs, industries, etc. in a variety of different formulations; researched and developed for specific market sectors and print head integration. Each product is designed for optimum productivity, with particular emphasis on offering the best substrate compatibility and reliability according to market sector, along with cost-effective consumption and very high quality results.

Working with print head manufacturers, Agfa has developed stable inks to cater for specific production segments within the inkjet industry. Accurate droplet size with outstanding sharpness and color accuracy is complemented by lowest overall consumption and the ability to generate very fast throughput speeds that exceed 328 fpm and guarantee superior adhesion across a range of substrates.

As more PSPs invest in highly capable inkjet printing devices, the performance of the ink in these systems is becoming one of the key differentiating factors in the production of wide-format print. The result of many years of continuous development, Fujifilm’s Uvijet UV inks offer market leading performance in terms of color vibrancy, image quality, adhesion flexibility, and finishing capability performance. Uvijet OZ, a new high-performance ink system, was launched with new Inca Onset S40i at drupa. The inks are the result of an R&D program focused on improved adhesion performance and post-print finishing properties on a range of media. Uvijet OZ has been designed to give a higher degree of flexibility, enabling users to fold, crease, cut, drive, and route printed media.