TAGS: Inks
Covestro, a manufacturer of high-quality polymers, collaborates with KRONOS, a provider of titanium dioxide pigments, to demonstrate how innovative new material solutions can support the uptake of digital inkjet printing on fabrics, advancing the textile industry’s sustainability transition.
Joining Forces to Address Pigment Ink Challenges
"
By joining forces with another raw materials supplier, we can address two key pigment ink challenges facing the growing digital inkjet printing market - formulation and sagging. Working together with KRONOS brings us another step closer to a more sustainable textile industry," said Dr. Torsten Pohl, head of Global Textile Coatings, Covestro.
"
Thanks to this collaboration, we’ve ensured that our innovative KRONOS 9900 Digital White aqueous pigment concentrate is compatible with Covestro’s INSQIN® polyurethane binders – ideal for direct-to-foil textile printing,” said Jürgen Bender, global market development manager, KRONOS.
“
Moreover, the new KRONOS development addresses the need in inkjet applications for highest stability in bottle, drum, printhead, in-flight and on-substrate. Together, we’ve cleared a barrier to the uptake of more sustainable digital printing technologies," added Bender.
Following testing by the two raw material suppliers and validation by industry partners, the collaboration successfully demonstrates that Covestro’s waterborne INSQIN® portfolio of Impranil® polyurethane binders and
Imprafix® cross-linkers is compatible with the white pigment dispersion KRONOS 9900 Digital White. No significant sedimentation was observed and all formulations showed good stability even after four weeks of testing at 50°C.
As such, the proven compatibility of the four Covestro binders Impranil® DL 1602, Impranil® DL 1618, Impranil® DL 1620 and Impranil® DL 1623 with KRONOS 9900 Digital White is an exciting development, opening the door to increased uptake of inkjet fabric printing. Together, these ingredients create a suitable formulation for a reliable printing process.
New Polyurethane Dispersion to Control Sagging
Covestro also developed a new
polyurethane dispersion, Impranil® DL 1606, specifically to address the particular problem of sagging – a well-known quality issue resulting from the relatively high ink loads needed for direct-to-foil (DTF) printing, which was identified in the context of the collaboration.
The state-of-the-art binder offers excellent anti-sagging properties and enables high white ink loads, making it a winning choice for white pigment inks used in inkjet printing.
Its performance in compatibility, stability, printability and image quality has been validated by Covestro’s innovation partners, meaning textile manufacturers can reap the environmental and efficiency benefits of digital printing with full confidence in a high-quality result.
Checkout Impranil® Range from Covestro
Source: Covestro