Heimtextil has seen Industrial Inkjet (IIJ) and Konica Minolta show companies how to digitally print wallpaper at linear speeds of up to 70m/min using a demo system they have been working on for the last 18 months.
“The big demand from the wallpaper industry is for digital printing of wallpaper at full production speeds,” said John Corrall, IIJ MD. “Our view is that wallpaper printing is about to see a massive shift to digital technology thanks to the improvements in inkjet capability. Ink performance and cost, print width and speed are all now within reach.
“When we started, the main difficulty was in developing an ink that meets all of the requirements from the wallpaper industry. It’s not just the appearance, the ink has to work on a very wide range of common wallpaper media and it has to meet standards for emissions and wash and scrub tests.”
He added: “It’s taken 18 months, but we are finally there! And that’s the message we’re sharing at Heimtextil.”