Discover how Fujifilm’s pigment dispersions enable formulators to deliver ink performance that meets the demands of new aqueous inkjet applications.
The digital printing industry continues to drive inkjet technology into new mainstream print applications, continuously pushing productivity, quality and technical performance. Major industry events are seeing the introduction of mega inkjet print systems targeting flexible packaging, corrugated packaging and décor, for example.
There is strong demand for water-based ink technology to be used in these applications to meet safety, compliance and perceived sustainability requirements, but the performance demands are very challenging. How do ink formulation teams push the boundaries of aqueous inkjet to deliver chemistry that meets ambitious technical and commercial targets?
A critical factor in formulation success lies in the selection of enabling raw materials. Fujifilm offers a range of high-quality inkjet pigment dispersions to create high-performance inks.
Demanding applications
As water-based pigment inkjet supports the expansion of inkjet into new areas of print, formulators must deliver robust inks that meet the functionality, performance and compliance requirements of each application. This is evidenced across a range of primary print sectors:
In publishing, magazine and book printing are demanding inks that support offset quality, high-speed print directly onto coated papers.
Fiber-based packaging requires inks that increase color density and achieve high-speed drying with jetting reliability.
In flexible packaging and labels, there is a drive to develop IDFC water-based inks for filmic substrates at production speeds that can compete with or complement analogue technology.
In home and fashion textiles, pigment technology promises universal ink that can print on all textiles, with water and energy efficiency. However, they are expected to compete with the color, handle, wash fastness and crock resistance of dye-based inks.
The adoption of inkjet in high-speed industrial manufacturing, like décor, demands inks that deliver high image quality while providing lightfast, natural color reproduction and compatibility with post-processes.
These applications each present unique challenges for the ink chemistry, but the solution always requires a robust, stable pigment dispersion on which to build the formulation.
Wide formulation window
Fujifilm’s range of dispersion technologies provide solutions to meet the technical and commercial requirements across all aqueous inkjet applications.
RxD® pigment dispersions are a leading product offering designed to meet the requirements of advanced inkjet formulations. They are engineered using a proprietary precision stabilization process that “locks” each pigment particle in a cage of cross-linked polymer, creating a highly stable dispersion.
The exceptional stability of RxD dispersions enables formulators to work freely with a broad range of ink formulants and concentrations, which makes it possible to create stable, complex blends of components, including challenging co-solvents, expansive surfactant chemistries, novel binders and other additives. This flexibility is critical for designing inks to meet challenging specifications.
Using RxD dispersions, formulators can confidently develop compliant inks for their target market, including Swiss Ordinance for food packaging and GOTS and OEKO-TEX® certification for textiles.
In addition to CMYK colors, orange, green, violet, and red pigments are available for formulating extended color gamut ink sets.
Enabling ink performance
RxD dispersions are well-proven in established aqueous inkjet applications, and Fujifilm’s customers are actively using them to develop next generation aqueous inkjet pigment inks.
Filmic substrates: It is challenging to formulate water-based inks for filmic substrates because of the hydrophobic nature of plastics. Achieving adhesion requires the use of a wide variety of co-solvents, surfactants and additives to create a good chemical interaction with primers, or directly with the substrate. The formulation latitude enabled by the stability of RxD allows formulators to achieve this functionality by using essential components that would typically rapidly destabilize a standard dispersion.
Image definition at high speed: In fiber-based applications, the absorbent nature of substrates makes it essential to control ink bleed and dot-gain for high-quality printing at speed. The compatibility of RxD with a wide range of surfactants, co-solvents, and rheology modifiers allows formulators to effectively manage dot control for good image formation.
Crock resistance and wash fastness for textiles: Without a chemical bond between the pigment and fabric, like in dye-based inks, pigment inks require binders and pre/post-treatments to achieve crock resistance and wash-fastness. RxD helps realize these properties through exceptional compatibility with an extensive range of binder and cross-linker chemistries and surface-modification additives. In addition, to achieve these properties across a range of textiles, optimal compatibility with novel pre-treats is crucial.
Textile softness: Achieving soft-handle and color density are inherent challenges of pigment technology in textiles. RxD dispersions are being used to develop innovative approaches to achieve high color density with softness that is comparable to reactive dye-based inks.
High-speed single-pass inkjet printing: As print speeds are being driven higher, inks need to dry faster. The formulator’s challenge is to create an ink that dries rapidly on the substrate without drying in the printhead, which would compromise performance and could even cause printhead failure. The versatility of RxD dispersions gives formulators the flexibility to work with the diverse range of additives, surfactants and co-solvents required to achieve this balance in functional properties.
These new applications are also pushing the boundaries of print system design, requiring the latest printheads to reliably achieve quality at high speed. RxD is manufactured to very high purity, with precisely controlled particle size and minimal levels of polyvalent ions and trace organics. This is critical for reliable jetting performance in small architecture, high resolution printheads such as MEMS.
Efficient formulation
Fujifilm engineered RxD dispersions to excel across multiple applications, offering exceptional versatility. With a single dispersion, formulators can confidently develop high-performance inkjet inks for packaging, textiles, commercial printing, display and industrial sectors.
Fujifilm pigment dispersions provide the critical, highly stable foundation and flexibility required to formulate inks at the leading edge of inkjet print. With proven reliability in diverse and demanding applications and compatibility with advanced printhead architectures, they empower ink formulators to meet complex specifications with confidence.
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Learn more about Fujifilm’s RxD pigment dispersions here.