Markets for printing tech: the sky’s the limit

New print methods are extending the process beyond traditional applications.

The printed electronics sector is based on conductive or optical inks deposited on a substrate, creating active or passive devices. It will create very low-cost electronics for flexible displays, smart labels and packaging, animated posters, active clothing and components in other products. The printing of electronics can use traditional printing methods for depositing special inks on material, using screen printing, flexography, gravure, offset litho and inkjet. There are still significant technical hurdles to printing RFID circuitry and chips.

‘Functional printing’ creates products  with a unique form and function to sense or control conductivity, resistivity, thermo-chromic reactions, fluid dynamics, or chemical processes. A good example involves printed imagery on labels or packages that changes colour when affected by temperature, light or other chemical reactions.

‘Industrial printing’ encompasses a wide spectrum of components that are part of other products. Ink or other substances are deposited on a variety of paper and non-paper substrates with varying thickness, using virtually every printing technology, for virtually every consumer, business, and manufacturing requirement.

There are a wide range of new market sectors for printing technology:
 
• Decorative Inkjet printing on a wide range of substrates including ceramics, glass, metal, special paper, plastic, textiles, wood and even food.

• Textiles and apparel

• Home decor and office

• Coding & marking Use of inkjet heads to add serial numbers, barcodes, and other marks, mainly to primary packaging (bottles, cans) and secondary packaging (corrugated cartons) as well as inkjet coding of mail for sorting by postal service.

• Functional Inkjet printing for electronic components such as antennas, display panels, and resistors; electronic circuitry/products (membrane switches, solar cells, lighting, electro-acoustics, keyboards, and batteries); and sensors (layers that change colour or react in some way on impact or exposure to certain substances

• Medical Drug delivery (edible wafers or food printed or coated with medical or other formulations), cell printing (human cells deposited on mesh to form living tissue).

• Security Labels used for tamper indication and anti-counterfeiting, anti-forgery, authentication or proof of identity products or components, credit, debit, gift and other plastic cards that have heavy lamination, smart IDs, smart cards, other security cards with integrated biometrics, pictures, electronics or barcodes, QR or bar codes, bonds, and other documents representing items of value

• 3D Layering of inkjet ejected material to create objects such as engineering prototypes and models. This technique may be referred to as ‘additive manufacturing’. 3D printing also has bioscience and medical applications in areas such as skin grafting or artificial organs


Why print technology?

Key drivers pushing these markets toward print technology include:

• Shorter cycle times in industries requiring faster time-to-market

• The need for rapidly prototyped and produced samples and proofs to test the market

• Shorter job runs because of changes in styles, consumer behaviour and other factors

• Extension of the ‘on-demand’ concept to more manufacturing

• Integration of RFID into contactless cards, logistics and other labels

• Decreases in manufacturing cost through integrated processes (such as imaging direct to thick substrates)

• Lower costs through automated systems that reduce labour

• New opportunities for value-added print services

Frank Romano is professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology

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