COVER STORY
What colour
is the future? Pigments are fast outstripping dyes in the inkjet arena thanks to their durability, vibrancy and longevity, explains Sensient Technologies’ chairman and CEO, Mr Kenneth P Manning
W
ith an ink technology portfolio that spans aqueous, solvent, oil and UV formulations, Sensient Technologies’ reach extends throughout the printing sector. The company serves key ink markets spanning home and office use, wide format systems, and industrial applications where it offers ink solutions for equipment featuring the latest printhead technology. As this broad spectrum indicates, the company is working hard to remain at the forefront of colour developments.
Mr Manning explained: “We're constantly expanding our technology and we're looking for state of the art solutions, particularly in inkjet inks where we have already secured many patents. Since our decision to move into the inkjet market, which we did by acquisition, we have established ourselves via a range of innovative pigment technologies.
Perfecting pigment technology “Inkjet inks are evolving from dyes to pigments. This is because pigments have better colour on specialty media and can produce photos that last for generations up to 200 years and that's what customers want today, particularly in photographic applications. We have a whole line of self-dispersing pigments that have been patented and we are ready to launch those into the marketplace.” In fact, Sensient offers both conventional polymer-stabilised pigment dispersions and self-dispersing pigments for inkjet inks. In both cases, the pigment is dispersed into small particles that are stable under demanding storage and printing conditions.
The polymer-stabilised pigment dispersions are designed to offer excellent water fastness and smear resistance, while the self-dispersed pigments are engineered to provide high stability and colour strength. The self- dispersed pigment (SDP) SensiJet pigment dispersions, which have been developed specifically for the inkjet inks market, achieve this through narrow particle size distribution and high charge density.
Sensient’s SMART colour dispersions target the high speed inkjet printing market, allowing short runs to be paired with traditional printing methods. These colour dispersions boast a smaller and narrower particle size distribution and are stable under extreme storage, shipping and usage conditions. This means the technology is characterised by high stability, durability, and vibrancy, making it attractive in a number of professional print sectors. Mr Manning says: “Sensient initially moved into the inkjet printing market because the company was already providing the raw materials for inkjet inks through our colours. The inkjet inks business was a natural outgrowth of our food colours business. Sensient is working with printing industry specialists and other original equipment manufacturers, providing a strong long-term market within which we can grow. However, to do this, we have to keep developing new
8 SCREEN PROCESS AND DIGITAL IMAGING l October/November 2010 Visit us at
www.spdi-online.com
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