Justin Noble | Head of Product Management

Digital textile printing continues to show robust development alternatives for corporations all through the textile and printing provide chain. Based on Smithers, total international development in digital textile printing volumes will enhance by 13.9 per cent from 2021 to 2026, and is predicted to hit a market share of ten per cent from six per cent over the identical interval.

Whereas nonetheless comparatively small, inkjet is the important thing to driving this development in market share, and is the expertise predominantly used to print artificial fibres, pure fibres, and blends. OEMs are subsequently rising the provision of printers to the textile sector, and the launch of our revolutionary printhead – the Xaar Aquinox – delivers distinctive reliability, creativity, and sustainability for printing aqueous fluids, serving to to develop the market.

The Xaar Aquinox permits customers to print ‘bolder and brighter’, providing improved precision and flexibility throughout textile print functions by way of skill to jet extremely pigmented and viscous water-based inks. Excessive Laydown Know-how will increase the drop measurement that the printhead can jet, which is very helpful for printing textiles, extremely absorbent substrates, or thick movie coatings, plus a broad vary of aqueous fluids and viscosities to simplify processes and cut back a machine’s carbon footprint.

Mixed with Xaar’s Extremely Excessive Viscosity Know-how, the Aquinox printhead also can add extra creativity to those wider substrate functions, permitting for extra inventive finishes, by extending the vary of fluids and color gamut obtainable utilizing bigger particles and heavier pigment loading.

Whereas the inkjet printing of white inks has historically precipitated blockages and nozzle outs, the Xaar Aquinox with TF Know-how has delivered confirmed enchancment in coping with whites and closely pigmented inks, lowering upkeep, enhancing up-time and reliability, to provide the vibrancy and outcomes wanted in textile printing, notably on darkish substrates.

Sustainability can be improved by way of water-based printing and thru the Aquinox enabling larger pigment loading and extra viscous fluids the quantity of water wanted in inks will be diminished, saving assets each initially and thru lowering the quantity of vitality wanted in drying supplies submit printing.

Water primarily based printing, and the Xaar Aquinox, provide worth to many sectors and the textile business is not any exception. Alternatives to maximise uptime and productiveness in functions resembling direct to garment printing will turn into obvious, notably the place darkish substrates require a base layer of excessive opacity white ink to be laid down earlier than any ornament. The heavy pigment-based fluids are troublesome to deal with and print with incumbent expertise. Nonetheless that is an space the place Aquinox excels and can dramatically enhance reliability. The superb productiveness and laydown functionality of Aquinox additionally compliments this, with extra ink, at larger opacity, with the ability to be delivered in a lot much less time than present printheads enable.

Industrial roll to roll scanning machines producing dwelling furnishing materials and materials for attire may also profit from the Aquinox. At present, managing the open time of nozzles is a problem for present printers, with humidity and environmental circumstances needing to be intently managed to make sure print high quality and reliability are maintained. Aquinox presents a step change in open time as Xaar’s distinctive TF Know-how retains ink in fixed recirculation, even within the nozzle. This considerably will increase the working window for customers and reduces the burden on intently controlling a printing setting.

While Asia is the dominant producer of digitally printed textiles on a quantity foundation, Western Europe continues to carry second place, pushed notably by Italy because the world’s vogue epicentre, and main digital printing gear producers. Particularly, since COVID, there was a rise within the variety of European corporations buying digital textile printers, and we’re seeing a requirement for printheads that may address a greater diversity of aqueous fluids – specifically pigmented inks – at which the Xaar Aquinox excels.

As a world enterprise we provide printheads to producers world wide. Whereas Europe is our largest geographic area, China and Asia are additionally key markets for Xaar, notably within the textile sector. Our native illustration and assist in every area ensures that we meet the wants of our OEMs in creating the most recent printers for inkjet functions.

Key amongst the brand new Xaar Aquinox printhead’s benefits is the contribution it could make to companies within the supply of extra environmentally pleasant print and manufacturing. With diminished vitality consumption and water utilization (each in manufacturing and drying instances), and particularly in textile printing, this could equate to as a lot as a 60 per cent saving in vitality and water over related analogue printing processes.

Historically during times of non-printing, many printheads have required excessive humidity and have to be constantly jetting to make sure print high quality. Xaar’s TF Know-how ink recirculation offers improved open time and latency, lowering upkeep and unnecessarily wasted ink, saving vitality and assets, thus maximising the entire price of possession.

Equally, the improved robustness of the Xaar Aquinox extends its print life and avoids pricey substitute of printheads, as soon as extra minimising waste and environmental affect.

This yr now we have set out our Sustainability Roadmap to 2030 which relies on 4 key pillars – Surroundings, Individuals, Innovation and Neighborhood. Inside this now we have set the goal of creating the Group a carbon impartial inkjet producer in 2022 by way of offsetting, and an goal to attain full carbon neutrality by 2030.

As well as, as a part of our innovation pillar, now we have efficiently trialled using recycled Polylactic Acid (PLA) filaments generated from returned and waste PLA as a part of the round economic system. These are provided in 100 per cent plastic-free sustainable packaging, with simple to recycle cardboard spools and are the primary stage in using biodegradable structural components within the manufacture of Xaar merchandise.

Sustainability is not simply part of our agenda, it ‘is’ the agenda, and can moreover enhance each our operational and business efficiency.

Whereas the pandemic has undoubtedly challenged the worldwide provide chain, we’re nonetheless seeing rising demand for inkjet printheads throughout all kinds of market sectors. It’s an enabling expertise that has a number of functions, and with the Aquinox printhead we are able to now ship the reliability in aqueous printing that many producers have been searching for. As such we anticipate that demand will proceed to develop, and for Xaar to be key to delivering the printheads and applied sciences in using inkjet.

We might say flexibility, reliability and sustainability are the important thing developments which can be driving development in using inkjet applied sciences within the textiles sector. When creating our aqueous expertise, the market want was clear – supply of a really dependable, strong printhead that may print a a lot wider vary of aqueous fluids together with excessive viscosity and excessive pigment loading. And that’s what now we have executed with the launch of the Aquinox.

Clearly, it’s all the time troublesome to speak about confidential growth initiatives and the work now we have underway with our textile OEMs. Nonetheless, as now we have already highlighted, a key space of focus is the chance to print ‘bolder and brighter’ by providing the potential to jet extremely pigmented and viscous fluids.

The Xaar Aquinox will assist break new floor, attributable to its excessive compatibility with a variety of fluids, even acidic inks. Right here, Xaar’s expertise is creating the chance for ink producers to reformulate their inks and fluids to ship richer, extra vibrant colors in addition to ship higher performance. Additionally, the Aquinox’s excessive native decision at 720dpi will allow very superb element for vogue materials to be printed with deep penetration of colors. 

Being able to jet fluids with a lot larger viscosity – as much as 100cP – will guarantee digital and inkjet printing delivers the reliability, efficiency, inventive and sustainable print that textile companies and shoppers now demand and ship the water-based inkjet textile print revolution.

Our revolutionary printhead, the Xaar Aquinox, delivers distinctive reliability, creativity, and sustainability for printing aqueous fluids. The Aquinox is the most recent growth from Xaar’s ImagineX platform, and our aQ Energy Know-how gives a radically new strategy to the dependable jetting of water-based fluids, delivering a really transformational industrial printhead for textiles and some other sector that advantages from using aqueous fluids.

The altering panorama of the textile market makes the Xaar Aquinox printhead excellent for a lot of functions. Simplified processes, distinctive print speeds and a wide selection of customisation choices, locations the Xaar Aquinox on the very forefront of effectivity and flexibility. Speeds of over 100m/min will be achieved, and a excessive native decision of 720dpi and firing frequency of as much as 48kHz, permits excessive fluid laydown for optimum productiveness.