David Savastano, Editor06.23.22
Editor’s Note: For information on the evolution and key markets for the screen ink industry, please see part 1 here.
Screen printing remains a key printing process for many products, including textiles, in-mold decorating, printed electronics and more. Although digital printing has impacted screen’s share in some fields, the advantages of screen printing will continue to make it the choice for a number of products going forward.
“The main advantage of screen printing is productivity and flexibility,” said Tito Echiburu, GM of Avient’s Specialty Inks business. “Our inks provide a wide array of printing techniques that can help printers achieve whatever finish they may be looking for. Additionally, we have inks tailored to perform on whatever substrate they may be printing on which can vary from cotton to polyester, or a wide array of blended fabrics that exist in the market today.”
Paul Arnold, marketing manager, Magna Colours, a subsidiary of Avient, noted that when it comes to printing garments, screen printing is still considered an unbeatable process for large scale production runs and the overall performance that it offers in delivering on mass.
“Once a screen printing run has been set up and configured, prints can produced swiftly, at scale, and with minimal maintenance and down-time. In turn, this offers printers a lower cost per print that other technologies can’t offer,” Arnold observed.
“Alongside this, water-based garment screen printing offers multiple benefits when compared to other technologies like DTG printing, including stronger ink coverage and higher opacity, especially for large, blocky and vector artwork,” he added. “There’s also a huge range of special effects available within screen printing inks that can’t be achieved in other systems, including metallics, glitters, puff, textures and high build.”
Dr. Hans-Peter Erfurt, manager IMD/FIM technology at Pröll GmbH, observed that the screen printing is the most versatile printing process.
“Fine details, large areas, transparent and opaque colors, lacquers, and special pigments can be applied easily on various substrates in many material thicknesses Dr. Erfurt said. “The outstanding brilliance and durability of screen printed colors, compared to other printing techniques, are of greatest interest for the decoration of design oriented IMD/FIM parts.
“Night design applications, which are particularly important for climate control panels, keypads, and switches, can be realized in screen printing technology by processing transparent, semi-transparent and highly opaque color shades,” he added. “Mirror inks, pearlescent and metallic inks can be processed by screen printing and utilized for IMD/FIM applications.”
“On-screen performance and productivity are the number one items we focus on from a production point of view,” said Echiburu. “This can be achieved in a variety of ways, such as wet on wet printing and Pantone color reproduction. Another extremely important quality is that all of our products meet the most stringent guidelines in terms of global restricted substance compliance. Our printers can have the confidence that Avient inks brands will achieve whatever compliance parameters requested by brands.”
“Many of our customers print on to a multitude of fabrics, so they are looking for ink systems that can meet a variety of requirements,” said Arnold. “At Magna, we need to be able to offer a full suite of inks to garment printers to ensure that the full extremes of fabrics and printing conditions are covered, from standard cotton t-shirts, the blends, polyester where dye migration may be an issue, even durable water-repellent or DWR fabrics.
“For example, our high solids water-based ink MagnaPrint AquaFlex V2 be used on a multitude of fabric compositions,” he added. “It works in combination with our Migration Blocker underbase ink to prevent dye migration from polyester fabrics, and also in combination with our DWR Primer ink, which enables water-based screen printing onto water-repellent fabrics for the first time.
“Versatility of ink solutions is key to customers, and so is performance,” Arnold continued. “Our customers need inks with high wash durability, strong print opacity and vibrant colors, and excellent stretch and elasticity, especially when considering sportswear applications. Inks also need to be easy-to-use – so we’ve developed water-based formulations with excellent screen runnability and long open times, ready-to-use straight out of the tub.”
In-mold decoration inks have their own requirements.
“IMD/FIM ink systems must fulfill extreme requirements, such as adhesion to the film material, formability, resistance to thermal stress, and shearing during the injection moulding process,” Dr. Erfurt said. “Because of the necessary forming of printed film, highly flexible screen printing inks that adhere well to the film must be used for the in-mold decoration technique. Furthermore, the inks must be able to withstand the thermal load and shear applied during in-mold decoration, particularly when printing on the back of the film.”
“Printed electronics in combination with film insert molding technology is right now at the starting point,” said Dr. Erfurt. “Several product applications for automotive interior and displays for white goods are in final development.
“A further future screen printing application is the decoration of front modules of BEV,” added Dr. Erfurt. “The new front emblems/modules are decorated from the second surface of a film or plate substrate. The screen printing inks must be non-conductive, IR, radar and/or lidar translucent and in addition formable and back moldable. The final part needs a scratch resistant front coating, which is not applied in screen printing. In other printing sectors, user-friendly water-based inks for printing on glass, metals and various plastics are increasingly requested.”
“For mass market garment embellishment, screen printing will continue to be the leading printing process due to the advantages it offers to processor in terms of speed and scale,” Arnold reported. “DTG and hybrid printing technologies will grow in importance as brand and retailers offer greater customization and localized supply chains for consumers.
“We expect to see sustainability play an even bigger role in the screen printing ink market, with a greater focus circularity of resources, durable textiles, as well as key advances in bio-derived and biodegradable ink and pigment offerings,” Arnold concluded.
“We remain positive with growth in new technologies based on eco-conscious solutions – water-based, silicone, and non-PVC technologies will continue to garner interest. Low cure plastisols will also become more prevalent in the years to come,” Echiburu noted. “We continue to focus our development on eco-conscious solutions. For us, this means helping our printers reduce consumption and waste and reduce their carbon footprint. We look forward to launching these types of products and solutions in the years to come.”
Screen printing remains a key printing process for many products, including textiles, in-mold decorating, printed electronics and more. Although digital printing has impacted screen’s share in some fields, the advantages of screen printing will continue to make it the choice for a number of products going forward.
Key Advantages of Screen Printing
Flexibility and productivity remain the major advantages of screen printing.“The main advantage of screen printing is productivity and flexibility,” said Tito Echiburu, GM of Avient’s Specialty Inks business. “Our inks provide a wide array of printing techniques that can help printers achieve whatever finish they may be looking for. Additionally, we have inks tailored to perform on whatever substrate they may be printing on which can vary from cotton to polyester, or a wide array of blended fabrics that exist in the market today.”
Paul Arnold, marketing manager, Magna Colours, a subsidiary of Avient, noted that when it comes to printing garments, screen printing is still considered an unbeatable process for large scale production runs and the overall performance that it offers in delivering on mass.
“Once a screen printing run has been set up and configured, prints can produced swiftly, at scale, and with minimal maintenance and down-time. In turn, this offers printers a lower cost per print that other technologies can’t offer,” Arnold observed.
“Alongside this, water-based garment screen printing offers multiple benefits when compared to other technologies like DTG printing, including stronger ink coverage and higher opacity, especially for large, blocky and vector artwork,” he added. “There’s also a huge range of special effects available within screen printing inks that can’t be achieved in other systems, including metallics, glitters, puff, textures and high build.”
Dr. Hans-Peter Erfurt, manager IMD/FIM technology at Pröll GmbH, observed that the screen printing is the most versatile printing process.
“Fine details, large areas, transparent and opaque colors, lacquers, and special pigments can be applied easily on various substrates in many material thicknesses Dr. Erfurt said. “The outstanding brilliance and durability of screen printed colors, compared to other printing techniques, are of greatest interest for the decoration of design oriented IMD/FIM parts.
“Night design applications, which are particularly important for climate control panels, keypads, and switches, can be realized in screen printing technology by processing transparent, semi-transparent and highly opaque color shades,” he added. “Mirror inks, pearlescent and metallic inks can be processed by screen printing and utilized for IMD/FIM applications.”
What are Customers Looking For
Printers are looking for certain key qualities from screen inks, with versatility being among the characteristics they seek.“On-screen performance and productivity are the number one items we focus on from a production point of view,” said Echiburu. “This can be achieved in a variety of ways, such as wet on wet printing and Pantone color reproduction. Another extremely important quality is that all of our products meet the most stringent guidelines in terms of global restricted substance compliance. Our printers can have the confidence that Avient inks brands will achieve whatever compliance parameters requested by brands.”
“Many of our customers print on to a multitude of fabrics, so they are looking for ink systems that can meet a variety of requirements,” said Arnold. “At Magna, we need to be able to offer a full suite of inks to garment printers to ensure that the full extremes of fabrics and printing conditions are covered, from standard cotton t-shirts, the blends, polyester where dye migration may be an issue, even durable water-repellent or DWR fabrics.
“For example, our high solids water-based ink MagnaPrint AquaFlex V2 be used on a multitude of fabric compositions,” he added. “It works in combination with our Migration Blocker underbase ink to prevent dye migration from polyester fabrics, and also in combination with our DWR Primer ink, which enables water-based screen printing onto water-repellent fabrics for the first time.
“Versatility of ink solutions is key to customers, and so is performance,” Arnold continued. “Our customers need inks with high wash durability, strong print opacity and vibrant colors, and excellent stretch and elasticity, especially when considering sportswear applications. Inks also need to be easy-to-use – so we’ve developed water-based formulations with excellent screen runnability and long open times, ready-to-use straight out of the tub.”
In-mold decoration inks have their own requirements.
“IMD/FIM ink systems must fulfill extreme requirements, such as adhesion to the film material, formability, resistance to thermal stress, and shearing during the injection moulding process,” Dr. Erfurt said. “Because of the necessary forming of printed film, highly flexible screen printing inks that adhere well to the film must be used for the in-mold decoration technique. Furthermore, the inks must be able to withstand the thermal load and shear applied during in-mold decoration, particularly when printing on the back of the film.”
Outlook for the Screen Ink Market
Screen ink industry leaders say they see plenty of opportunities ahead for screen printing.“Printed electronics in combination with film insert molding technology is right now at the starting point,” said Dr. Erfurt. “Several product applications for automotive interior and displays for white goods are in final development.
“A further future screen printing application is the decoration of front modules of BEV,” added Dr. Erfurt. “The new front emblems/modules are decorated from the second surface of a film or plate substrate. The screen printing inks must be non-conductive, IR, radar and/or lidar translucent and in addition formable and back moldable. The final part needs a scratch resistant front coating, which is not applied in screen printing. In other printing sectors, user-friendly water-based inks for printing on glass, metals and various plastics are increasingly requested.”
“For mass market garment embellishment, screen printing will continue to be the leading printing process due to the advantages it offers to processor in terms of speed and scale,” Arnold reported. “DTG and hybrid printing technologies will grow in importance as brand and retailers offer greater customization and localized supply chains for consumers.
“We expect to see sustainability play an even bigger role in the screen printing ink market, with a greater focus circularity of resources, durable textiles, as well as key advances in bio-derived and biodegradable ink and pigment offerings,” Arnold concluded.
“We remain positive with growth in new technologies based on eco-conscious solutions – water-based, silicone, and non-PVC technologies will continue to garner interest. Low cure plastisols will also become more prevalent in the years to come,” Echiburu noted. “We continue to focus our development on eco-conscious solutions. For us, this means helping our printers reduce consumption and waste and reduce their carbon footprint. We look forward to launching these types of products and solutions in the years to come.”
