Xennia's Dr Kay Yeong presented a talk at the European Coatings Conference in Berlin, Germany in Oct 2010. The talk discussed the impact of inkjet technology on the packaging coatings industry. The conference presented a suite of high-level technical papers, given by invited international experts, on topics such as sustainable packaging coatings, printable coatings, heat seal lacquers and hybrid barrier films.

1. INKJET: A DRIVER FOR CHANGE IN
THE COATINGS INDUSTRY
Kay Yeong, PhD
Presented at European Coatings Conference
Berlin, October 2010

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
About Xennia
Inkjet Printing
Types of Printheads
Coating Applications
Examples of Industrial Printing Systems

3. BACKGROUND
Xennia is the world’s leading industrial inkjet solutions provider
14 year history, over 300 customer development programmes
World class reputation underpinned by a strong IP portfolio
Unique expertise in inkjet chemistry with strong engineering capability
Headquartered in UK, offices in Netherlands, US and China
Offering reliable inkjet process solutions:
Inkjet modules and inks for OEM partners with market access
Printing systems and inks for end users

4. FROM INKJET IDEAS ...
TO PRODUCTION REALITY
ink formulation & test evaluation tools system design production solutions

5. WHAT IS INKJET PRINTING?
A mechanism for controlled ejection of discrete drops of fluid
Examples of actuation mechanisms:
Deformation of piezoelectric crystals
Thermal expansion of bubbles
Movement of microelectromechanical parts
Effectively analogous to a fountain pen, except much smaller!
Drop volumes1-80 pL
Inkjet printing allows non-contact, digitally-controlled deposition of
chemistry

6. WHAT MAKES INKJET
DIFFERENT?
Non-contact
Deposit on to fragile or 3D surfaces
Build composites and 3D structures
Digital control
Alter deposition patterns at will
Equally suited to short or long runs
Functional materials
Organic, inorganic and biomaterials
Solutions, colloids and emulsions

7. INKJET PRINTING
Printed features are built-up drop by drop
Typical dot sizes range from 30-100 m
Morphology of printed features can be tuned by adjusting ink properties
UV-cured ink UV-cured ink
on plastic on copper
Transparent
Copper lines
UV-cured ink
on plastic
on plastic

8. PRINTHEAD SELECTION
Printhead choice must be matched to the application:
Large drop volume (50-80 pL) for large area coatings
Small drop volume (5-40 pL) for targeting specific regions, high quality
graphics
Variable drop volume (greyscale) for high quality graphics, control of
deposition amount
Throughflow recirculation for inks containing dense particles
Water, solvent or UV compatible
Print swathes 2 -108 mm wide
Native printing resolution 30-600 dpi
Printing frequency up to 20kHz per nozzle (~ 50-75 m/min)
64-2656 nozzles

9. EXAMPLES OF PRINTHEADS
Xaar 1001 TTEC CF-1 Kyocera KJ-4
360dpi, 8 level greyscale 300dpi, 8 level greyscale 600dpi, 5 level greyscale
Supports recirculation Supports recirculation Aqueous, UV-based inks
UV, oil, solvent-based inks UV, oil-based inks High productivity (20kHz)
1000 nozzles 636 nozzles 2656 nozzles
Dimatix Q class Trident 768jet
300+dpi, 4 level greyscale Binary
UV, oil, solvent-based inks Aqueous, aggressive inks
High productivity (16kHz) Stainless steel, refurbishable
256 nozzles 768 nozzles (256 ch)

10. PACKAGING COATINGS
Types of coatings:
Decorative
Functional
Security
Types of packaging materials:
Paper
Cardboard
Plastic
Glass
Metal
Textile

11. DECORATIVE COATINGS
Traditionally just standard process colours
Increasing use of special effect pigments and dyes Process colours
– low level amount of material usage makes it Spot colours
cost effective White
Optical brighteners
New avenues of impact include:
Texturisation of surfaces
Deposition of scents Metallic Fluorescent
Metallic effect colours
Gloss
Thermochromics Photochromics Matt
Electrochromics
Textures
Scents
Liquid crystals
Optical effects

12. FUNCTIONAL COATINGS
IR absorbers Hydrophobic coatings
Hardcoats
Stiction modifiers
New inkjet functional coatings
Reduced friction
take advantage of developments
Anti-corrosion coatings in nanotechnology
Selective deposition of materials Antimicrobial
Thermal history
Less usage of material
tracking
Effectively controls costs Conductive graphite,
Barrier materials Multi-functional composite metals & polymers
coatings possible on all types of
Chemically-resistant substrates Handle modifiers
coatings
Support films
Biomaterials

13. SECURITY COATINGS
Increasingly important for brand and
consumer protection Chemically Radioactive
Item-level lifetime tracking expected to reactive materials tracers
increase Magnetic Optically variable
Variable data capability is vital to success materials surfaces
Typically involve high-cost materials – low Quantum Narrow band
deposition volumes complements well dots absorbers
Key areas of new implementations:
Lenticular Inorganic
Non-evident features printing luminescents
Opportunistic camouflage
Conductive graphite, metals Liquid
Nano-composite structures & polymers crystals
Thermochromics Photochromics Textures Fragile coatings Biomaterials

14. RIGID PACKAGING PRINTING
SYSTEM

15. MULTI-COLOUR NARROW
WEB PRINTING SYSTEM