Inkjet’s Age
Turbo Coffee Poster utilizing White Ink, image
courtesy of Ricoh.
that’s enjoyable to that audience. We
can’t print with the inks and the toners
that we use normally—especially the
inks—because they don’t have the capacity
to cancel out that surface and the
background that you’re printing on.”
Substrate Applications are
Limitless
The applications for white ink are
seemingly limitless. There are
multiple materials that can now be
printed with white ink, that include
clear glass, plastic, and even wood
according to Brown.
“We’re now printing on substrates that
years ago we never even dreamed we
could print on,” said Dollard. “I mean,
who thought we’d be printing on glass,
on stone, on wood, and on three-dimensional
objects? At SGIA last year, we were
printing on cinder blocks.”
White Ink is Essential for
Textile, Special Effects,
and Signage Printing
Textile printing is one of white inks’
most popular applications. Without
white ink, textile printers must
SurePress Label Sample from Vivant Brewery
Wondersplosion, image courtesy of Epson.
resort to printing solely on white or
light-colored garments.
“For textile printing, most customers
use a white textile material
(some type of soft fabric), so in most
cases, the white ink is not needed as
much for this type of application,”
explained Kaz Kudo, Associate
Product Manager of FUJIFILM North
America’s Graphic Systems Division.
“The more important thing is for
the material to have the best white
possible.”
Another important use of White
Ink is to create the base for printing
special effects, like metallics. White
Ink acts as a barrier so that metallic
effects don’t come through the CMYK
image in unwanted areas, according
to Kudo.
White ink has become especially
important in the label and packaging
industry, as its use is essential when
printing on clear and metallic substrates.
A larger gamut is needed to
print on metallic substrates and the
average printing system is usually
limited to four to seven inks, according
to Mike Pruitt, Product Manager
of SurePress at Epson America.
“White ink is required for clear
and metallic substrates,” explained
Pruitt. “In the case of the labels and
packaging industry, white ink is a
very strong and growing percentage
of the market, especially in the
premium market. In addition, having
white ink that is opaque is very important
in the selection of the press.
Other factors such as adhesion of
ink to substrates, and the capability
of the ink system to reliably handle
the more viscous and sedimentary
nature of the white ink.”
The ability to print white ink on
clear substrates has also proved to
be of great importance in the signage
industry, as window clings and clear
backed stickers frequently utilize the
ink, according to McCausland. (He
additionally noted that white ink can
add new dimension to backlit prints.)
The Future of White Ink
White ink’s presence in the printing
industry is growing as white ink
technology evolves and becomes
even more important in the production
of bright, vibrant printed materials.
But white Ink can be finicky and
difficult to use. It can pose troublesome
issues including drying with a
yellowish tint, going bad from being
used inconsistently, and lacking the
opacity needed to make other colors
pop. HP’s new white latex ink is looking
to eradicate these issues.
Upon announcing HP’s new rigid
latex printing technology in March,
it was also announced that HP would
be delivering an innovative, glossy,
high-quality “true white” that avoids
yellowing over time like traditional
UV-based white ink.
“White ink has been a consistent
problem for the industry. Traditionally,
it uses bigger and heavier pigment
particles that frequently clog
printheads, or the opaque mixture
becomes separated and settles to the
bottom of the ink reservoir. Until
now, physically shaking the reservoirs
often has been the necessary
solution,” said Brown. “Through HP’s
investment in innovation around
chemistry and engineering, the white
ink solution with the HP Latex R Series
is an industry breakthrough.”
PrintingNewscom June 2018 Printing News 27
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