production digital textile printing

1.14 ITMA 2003

ITMA 2003 at Birmingham, UK, during October 2003 marked the introduction

of a number of breakthrough developments for digital printing on textiles and

the beginning of production digital textile printing of yard goods. The key

developments involved companies with considerable experience building con-

ventional textile printing equipment, including Ichinose, Reggiani, Robustelli,

and Zimmer.

· DuPont Ink Jet exhibited two of its Artistri 2020 printers with its Japanese

partner and machine builder, Ichinose Toshin Kogyo Co. Ltd. The Artistri

2020 uses 16 Seiko Instruments PIJ print heads arranged with eight heads on

each of two gantries. This configuration enables the use of two different ink

types or using the same ink on both gantries for greater production speed. The

device prints rolls of fabric up to 1.8m wide at print resolution of 600 dpi at a

production rate of about 30m2/hr. Its roll-to-roll adhesive print blanket

system enables printing on woven, and knits, including elastomeric fabrics.

The Artistri system and inks can print on nylon, silk, cotton, polyester and

blend materials including DuPont Lycra blends. The 2020 stood out from

other production inkjet printers because its 2020 devices were printing

pigmented and disperse dye ink sets while competitive devices were printing

less challenging acid and reactive dyes. DuPont also offered fiber reactive

and acid ink sets for its inkjet printers. DuPontTM ArtistriTM inks are

available in cyan, magenta, yellow, black, light cyan, light magenta, orange

and blue for reactive dye; cyan, magenta, yellow, black, light cyan, light

magenta, red and blue for disperse dye and pigment; and cyan, magenta,

yellow, black, red, blue, green, orange, fluorescent yellow and fluorescent red

for acid dye. The DuPont dyes require post-print fixing typically used for

conventional fabric printing. The Artistri system also includes the DuPontTM

ArtistriTM Color Control and Management System (CCMS) and RIP

software. ITMA marked the emergence from beta testing and the commercial

launch of the Artistri 2020. By February 2006, DuPont had placed about 160

Artistri 2020 printers in locations around the world. Sign and banner

manufacturers in addition to other product samples and small to medium

production fabric printers have acquired this device.

· L&P introduced a UV-curable dye for use with its Virtu system. Sub-

sequent versions of the Virtu print line have achieved print speeds of about

200m2/hr.

8 Digital printing of textiles

· Mimaki unveiled its TX3 fabric printer with more robust material handling

capability than the Mimaki TX2 to tension and print difficult-to-handle

fabrics such as elastomeric fabrics. The TX3 provides advanced material

handling like that provided for the TX2 on the DUA Graphic Systems Srl

(DGS) Cromos textile printer.

· DGS of Como, Italy, also exhibited its other software and textile printer

offerings at ITMA. DUA Graphic Systems expanded from a supplier of

software solutions to the screen engraving industry, to a digital printing

software provider and value-added manufacturer of advanced textile handling

devices for existing digital printing systems. In addition to the Cromos printer

based on the Mimaki TX2, DGS offers the Star G8, based on the Encad

Novastar 850, the Colorspan Fabrijet XII, and the Luxor 7 based on the

Mimaki TX printer. DGS supplies these systems with its Match Print II

software. In February 2005, DGS and DuPont announced a marketing

partnership for the sale of the Artistri 2020 and Match Print II software.

· Reggiani, in cooperation with Scitex Vision and Ciba, introduced its DReAM

textile printer using 42 Aprion 512-nozzle PIJ print heads for this six-color

digital textile-printing device. Reggiani reports that the DReAM can print

600 dpi throughput at a rate of 150m2/hr. Reggiani had installed over a dozen

of these devices by May 2005, most of which are located in Italy.

· Robustelli, in partnership with Epson, launched its Monna Lisa textile printer.

This device is capable of printing very high-resolution images for which

Epson print heads are known. The Monna Lisa features half again as many

print heads as the Mimaki TX2, along with improved material handling.

Robustelli has placed about a dozen of these printers in Italy.

· Zimmer exhibited its Chromotex printer using arrays of `Flatjet' piezoelectric

stimulated spray nozzles. It also showed its Chromojet carpet mat inkjet

printer.

During 2003, Mimaki exhibited its GP 604 garment-printing device with 60 cm

(24 inch) print width. Mimaki also offers the GP 1810 inkjet garment printer

with 1.8m (73.2 inch) print width.