It's a materials world

Of course there’s continued demand for banner materials, vinyls and exhibition graphics for instance. Solvent, and particularly eco-solvent, printers are still widely used despite the numbers of UV and latex printers in the marketplace. Most consumables distributors spoken to for this article confirmed that here self-adhesive vinyl is still the main substrate of choice.

Distributors also report high demand for interior signage materials, both for point-of-sale and exhibition use, but also for the leisure market, particularly with wall coverings. Landor UK, for example, has just introduced a new material called Phototex. Peter Davidson, business and development manager for the company, says that the key to this product is its adhesive, which is strong enough to hold the material to the wall, but allows the graphics to be taken down after use without leaving behind any residue to damage or stain the surface.

Davidson says that it’s not just a wallpaper, noting that people have used it unprinted as a white surface onto which presentations can be projected. Yet others have used Phototex to add new graphics to existing pop-up frames for cheaper exhibition graphics.

Landor is also just about to launch an anti-bacterial wall coating that is designed to prevent superbugs like MRSA or e-coli, which often live in moulds growing on walls. It should be effective for up to ten years, making it a useful solution for environments such as hospitals or schools.

Another recognisable upturn in demand has been for magnetics according to Davidson, explaining: “Retailers want to be able to fit it themselves and it’s repositionable so the staff can’t really make a mistake and they can reduce the cost of fitting.”

Indeed, ease of fitting is becoming increasingly important in the retail sector. Drytac, for example, has a new self-adhesive window film, Viziprint, which is a clear polyester film suitable for UV printing. This media uses a specially designed embossed release liner to create micro grooves in the adhesive, allowing air to escape and thus making it easier for end users to position the film without needing specialist fitters. It can be printed with white inks or backed with Drytac’s Spectrum, which is a white printable vinyl with clear adhesive.

Sihl also has a transparent polyester film for use with solvent and latex inks, specifically developed for window advertising. The new film clings to the surface when the special coating is activated by soapy water, making it extremely simple to apply and to remove. The ClearSol WetCling Film 125 glossy is compatible with both solvent and latex printing. The clear film has a special coating, which when soaked with soapy water activates a cling effect glue.

And Aslan has developed an interesting floor graphic, Aslan DFP49, which is designed for use with carpets. It’s a 320 micron PVC film that has a special adhesive so that it can be applied to short pile carpets for temporary use, such as at an exhibition or sales event. It’s said to be easily removable in one piece. It can be printed via most printers, including solvent, latex and UV-curable.

Aslan has also developed a rear projection film that is meant to be used on the inside of a window, such as in a retail environment, and which allows movies to be projected onto the it so that they can be viewed from outside. It’s a 90 micron PVC film with a white translucent surface.

Latex low-down

While UV and solvent are well established, latex is the relatively new kid on the block and many distributors are still concentrating their efforts on finding suitable materials.

Kevin Wallace, managing director of All Print Supplies, says that his biggest focus at the moment is latex, noting: “These printers are more picky than an eco-solvent printer.”

This is partly because the latex printers take a while to heat up to temperature, which can cause the leading edge of the material to buckle leading to cockling on the print.

Wallace says: “I have had to launch three banners with high quality ingredients to make them more resistant to this heat absorption.”

Wallace confirms what you already know - that PSPs may use different types of kit but will expect the supplier to stock similar substrates giving the same kind of performance for them all.

Michael Crook, product manager for Antalis McNaughton’s sign and display division, also notes that there is a lot of demand for profiled materials that can be used with the latex printers. In theory the Mimaki latex printers, which operate at lower temperatures than the HP alternatives, may be easier to deal with but it’s too early to say, so for now most vendors are concentrating their efforts on media suitable for the HP latex machines.

At the beginning of this year CWE Solutions launched a new media under the ‘Expanse’ brand name. The range is made up of seven vinyls, two polylaminates, a pop-up and a roll-up material. They come with profiles for the HP latex printers.

Frost Signs in Kent has used the Expanse Premier cast vinyl for vehicle wrapping with good results. This vinyl has a new Micro-Air bubble releasing system adhesive, making it easy to fit. Gareth Marchant, production manager at Frost Signs says that it “gives the best all-round result of any media we have tried.” 

The Chinese substrate manufacturer Guandong has released a new window graphic that has a three-year warranty and is suitable for both Mimaki and HP latex printers. The film is called One Way Vision Polymeric 18660 and features a cadmium-free PVC surface for long-lasting and odourless prints that are resistant to scratches and smudges.

Rigid boards

There have been several new rigid media launched recently. Hexacomb, for example launched a new version of its Falconboard Print display boards earlier this year. This now has whiter facings and is said to be easier to print to thanks to a new liner that improves ink adhesion. Antoinette Woldring, sales and marketing manager, Hexacomb, said: “We incorporated a whiter substrate with a smoother printing surface while still maintaining Falconboard’s structural rigidity and cutting ease. The whiter board minimises the need for white ink laydown - and in some cases, may even eliminate it. This provides additional cost and performance benefits.”

Falconboard Print was designed as an alternative to foam boards and is available in 6, 10 and 18mm thicknesses. There’s also a Build grade, for semi-permanent indoor point-of-sale uses and a Mount edition for print-and-mount applications.

Crook says he has seen strong demand for Smart-X, a new board from 3A Composites, which is said to be both strong and lightweight, as well as ecologically sound. This has an expanded polystyrene core with UV-resistant solid polystyrene surfaces. It is moisture resistant and can be used for up to two years outdoors without any significant change in colour.

Pyramid recently launched an improved range of its Foamalite boards, which will be called Foamalite Xpress. These now have better whiteness characteristics and the surface has been optimised for the latest printers. The existing sheets have been renamed Foamalite Premium. The original developer, the Irish company Foamalite, was taken over last year by 3A Composites.

Palmer Publicity Services (PPS) is a wide-format bureau that has launched its own brand transparent acrylic, which it calls Acryliart. Katie Palmer, marketing and sales for PPS, explains: “We print directly onto the reverse of 10mm thick, high quality cast acrylic that has been flame polished with ultra smooth edges and rounded or square corners. These can be supplied either in ‘transparent’ form where the wall surface reflects through the printed image, producing a 3D like effect, or backed up with white creating depth and the illusion of the image embedded within the acrylic material.” It’s available in a range of sizes up to a maximum of 300 x 150cm.

Environmental concerns

It’s not uncommon for designers to specify ‘green’ materials. But many vendors – and printers - recognise that there are a limited number of people willing to pay a premium for such substrates. All Print Supplies’ Wallace points out that there are alternatives to recyclable materials such as using lighter weight films: “They are using less material and less raw energy in the manufacturing.”

That said, there are a great many more recyclable materials available now than there were not that long ago, and for all digital inkjet wide-format printer technologies.

Antalis is the UK distributor for Nu Stone, which is made by NuCo. This is made up of 80% calcium carbonate, which is effectively chalk, so that after use it can be sent to a landfill in the knowledge that it will break down easily. The chalk is combined with high-density polyethylene using a unique manufacturing process. Crook says that it feels like a plastic but prints like paper, adding: “It’s slightly lower in cost than PVC and when it goes to the ground it biodegrades and turns back to chalk.”

Antalis has a customer that uses Nu Stone to print posters for the National Trust. There’s a whole family of Nu Stone products for packaging, loyalty cards and retail bags as well as point-of-sale print, which is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use and mainly designed for screen and UV printing.

Sihl has an eco-friendly paper, TriSolv, which can be used in the same way as self-adhesive vinyl films but is much less harmful when it comes to its disposal. It works with solvent ink and is ideal for cardboard or pulp board uses. Signs made from this can be recycled in small quantities along with waste paper and card from packaging. Generally larger quantities can be incinerated because they have a good thermal value. Also, very little additional CO2 is produced during this procedure because both the boards and the TriSolv media consist primarily of renewable materials.

Textiles

Finally, one other area worth mentioning is that of printable textiles. Soft signage is finally taking off and the opportunity for wide-format inkjet in the interiors market for instance means media developers have their eye on the main chance. Watch this space for a separate piece on the topic.