Consumables
Sun Chemical brings whole portfolio to Hamburg
Friday 12. May 2017 - Under the umbrella theme of Brighter Ideas, Sun Chemical is presenting its comprehensive portfolio of world-class inks and innovative ink chemistry platforms for screen, industrial and inkjet printing and for printed electronics on Stand D20 in Hall B5.
Stand highlights include the global launch of FasciaCoat, Sun Chemicals new hardcoat varnish for dashboard fascia and an addition to the SunHytek range of products for high-tech, appliance panel and automotive applications. Aqueous, formable and VOC-free, FasciaCoat is a hard varnish that dries to a matte finish, minimising glare, and that has the ability to self-heal scratches created during the production process.
Highlighting the depth and breadth of its solutions as one of the worlds largest producers of screen inks and a single source for all ink requirements, Sun Chemical is demonstrating its capabilities and expertise within four zones on the stand: Digital Textiles, Graphics, Industrial and Partnerships & Technology.
Digital Textiles
Sun Chemical is presenting its range of four SunTex textile inkjet inks optimised for Epson print-heads. Delivering improved ink consumption when compared to leading competitors, SunTex inks are specifically formulated to enable high-speed and long print runs.
Included in the product range is SunTex Sonata DTE, a transfer dye sublimation ink series for printing polyester sport garments. This ink has been awarded the Oeko-Tex EcoPass, enabling printers to achieve the Oeko-Tex 100 printed garment certification (For more details, see press release entitled Sun Chemical Receives ECO PASSPORT Certification for its SunTex Range of Digital Textile Inks and dated 8 May 2017). Also part of the range is SunTex Sonata DDE, a dye sublimation ink developed to meet the key requirements of direct print to polyester fabrics, delivering excellent show-through properties for double-sided output such as flags and banners. SunTex Sonata DDE also offers excellent wash and bleed fastness, a critical feature for outdoor printed fabric applications.
Sun Chemical is also presenting its innovative SunTex Encore PDE pigment ink. Encore PDE is the result of many years of R&D and is formulated to deliver improved colour vibrancy, while maintaining excellent wash and wet-rub resistance. Encore PDE can be printed directly onto both natural and synthetic textile fabrics, such as cotton, viscose, silk and polycotton, which are widely used for interior decoration and home furnishing.
Completing the range is SunTex Concerto RDE, a reactive dye ink series that delivers excellent colour vibrancy when printing directly to fabrics, such as silk and cotton, while maintaining the soft ‘feel’ or ‘hand’, a key requirement for clothing garments.
Sun Chemical is also running print demonstrations on the stand to show the excellent performance of Sonata DTE inks. At the same time, the printer is showcasing the latest ECOPROISU ink pouch system developed to enable extended running and greater economy (For more details, see press release entitled Sun Chemical Introduces New Pouch System and Upgraded Streamline ESL 3 Ink Range at FESPA 2017 and dated 8 May 2017).
Graphics
Continuing to support the screen printing graphic market, experts from Sun Chemical are on hand to discuss the SunPromo range of inks for the wide range of screen graphic applications.
Sun Chemical is also highlighting its Streamline range of solvent-based, alternative inkjet inks, designed for wide and super wide format printers. For the wide format market, Sun Chemical is presenting Streamline ESL 3, a fully colour-matched and compatible ink series to the latest Roland Eco Sol Max 3 ink series (For more details, see press release entitled Sun Chemical Introduces New Pouch System and Upgraded Streamline ESL 3 Ink Range at FESPA 2017 and dated 8 May 2017).
Streamline ESL 3 is the latest product formulated from Sun Chemical’s highly successful HPQ-LO (High Print Quality – Low Odour) backbone ink chemistry platform, the first alternative solvent ink platform to achieve the Greenguard & Greenguard Gold certification for indoor emissions. The Streamline ESL (Roland), Ultima (Mimaki) and MUTLO (Mutoh) ranges are all fully Greenguard Gold certified.
Sun Chemical continues its commitment to the Super Wide Format (SWF) solvent inkjet market with further improvements to reduce customer ink consumption costs. Another feature is improved drying performance at lower temperatures, saving electricity costs and reducing solvent fumes for the operators. Ink overspray has also been significantly reduced to remove the need to clean between every print job, so the customer has more productive press time each day.
For the many large format graphic printers who produce billboards that are frequently replaced, Streamline offers the option to use the Streamline Rapide Magenta and Yellow SWF solvent inks. These inks are ideal for display prints, such as movie posters at cinemas, which will be replaced within a year.
The Streamline Rapide series is available for most super wide format Streamline ranges and offers cost-effective alternatives for environments where premium performance is required, but where extended outdoor durability is not needed.
Industrial
On display in this zone is a range of Sun Chemicals industrial products including:
SunHytek- heat and humidity-resistant ink solutions (including FasciaCoat, Sun Chemicals new hardcoat varnish for dashboard fascia) for high-tech, appliance panel and automotive applications, where a combination of high visual impact and long-term durability is required,
SunCarte – high peel strength, colour consistent screen and offset inks, adhesives and varnishes for laminated plastic cards,
SunPoly – screen inks formulated for high-speed screen printing on a variety of container substrates.
Partnerships & Technology
In this zone, SunJet, the global inkjet team of Sun Chemical, is highlighting the capabilities of its joint development projects with OEM partners, system integrators and printhead manufacturers through the presentation of its latest breakthrough ink chemistries and digital technologies for a broad range of market sectors including: graphics, décor, textile, industrial and packaging.
SunJet is showcasing Aquacure, its next-generation functional aqueous inkjet ink. This ground-breaking ink chemistry, which combines the best of water-based and UV curing ink technology, delivers significant performance and production benefits and provides a development platform upon which new inks can be introduced to meet the future needs of the expanding wide format graphics sector. In addition, through its unique composition of up to 80% water and low odour properties, Aquacure presents a reduced health, safety and environmental profile, significantly reducing hazard labelling compared to current solvent and UV chemistry.
Also on display is the SunTronic range of advanced materials for printed electronic applications, including smart packaging solutions, such as printed antennae, which add functionality to packaging, labels or point of sale collateral by allowing it to interact with a phone through NFC or RFID. In addition, Sun Chemical is demonstrating its smart packaging solution Touchcode, a series of printed conductors embedded in cards, labels and packaging that interact with touchscreen enabled devices, smartphones and tablets. More cost-effective than NFC or RFID and invisible unlike barcodes or QR codes, the technology effectively ensures brand authenticity as well as brand awareness and stronger promotions.
A further highlight is Sun Chemicals nanosilver ink, which has been designed for use with industry leading inkjet and aerosol jet systems in printed electronics. Sun Chemicals nanosilver inks deliver the industrys best performing low temperature sintering properties and the unique chemistry offers long open life, superior jetting performance and compatibility with most commercial and industrial printheads. With Sun Chemicals nanosilver inks, it now becomes possible to work with one nanosilver from prototype to production.
SunJet is also showing DICs proprietary SEPAREL hollow fibre membrane technology for the degassing (removal of dissolved gasses) of inkjet ink, resulting in consistently smooth printing, reduced substrate and ink waste, shortened printer cleaning times and lower printer cleaning costs. Unlike traditional microfiltration membranes, SEPAREL hollow fibre membranes significantly reduce inkjet ink evaporation during degasification and can degasify inkjet ink at any parts per billion (ppb) level.
The SunJet team is available throughout the show to meet with existing and prospective partners to explore collaborative projects that will continue to push the boundaries of digital inkjet.