Aellora Digital, a developer of digital chemistries and integrated drop-on-demand inkjet systems, claims its new BrightWhite? UV-curing jetting ink works with a wide range of plastics (i.e., ABS, PVC, PET, and Vinyl), fabrics, and coated substrates used in graphics printing.
The secret, it says, is in the innovative suspension chemistry and dispersion technique Aellora uses to keep concentrations of Titanium Dioxide pigments from gumming up the printheads. When the ink is jetted at temperatures near 70″?C, it has the viscosity to stop spreading when it cools upon contact with the substrate. Special surface treatments or separate UV pinning stations aren't necessary to achieve proper drop formation and ink placement.
Although this formulation is new to graphics printing, Aellora says the ink has already performed well in other industries with 50 successful installations worldwide. According to Aellora Digital, more than 10,000 failure-free operating hours have been demonstrated.
The company has also announced LightSpeed? UV-curable jetting inks that can expand the range of paper and plastic substrates that can be inkjet printed. The ink uses an advanced formulation that reduces the risk that ink will wick into the porous substrates, causing poor print quality, bleed-through and diluted colors.
Aellora Digital is marketing the inks to printing companies as well as printer OEMs
Aellora Digital's parent company is Markem, the New Hampshire-based industrial-printing specialist that has been in business since 1911. (Alleora Digital: www.aellora.com)