INKJET PENETRATES INDUSTRIAL

APPLICATIONS & MARKETS

Dr Alan Hudd

Xennia Technology Ltd

Presented at the 20th Annual Ink Jet Printing Conference

Las Vegas, USA, Feb 2011

Inkjet penetrates industrial

applications and markets

The changing industrial landscape

Ceramics – inkjet has become the dominant technology

Functional digital textiles – self cleaning fabrics become a reality

Solar energy coatings – inkjet could be game changing for new applications

Xennia helps customers lower

operating costs, increase productivity

and simplify mass customised production

by revolutionising manufacturing processes

from inkjet ideas to production reality

Xennia develops & supplies digital solutions based on

inkjet modules, systems and inks for industrial

applications

Technology push to market pull

Courtesy Mr Loek de Vries, Chairman and President, Royal TenCate

Price competition Non-price competition

Existing arena

New arena Inkjet proposition

Traditional

customers

The changing landscape

Product decoration

Huge demand for digital decoration of parts on production lines

Key drivers are:

Reduced costs

Print on demand means no need for large inventories

Increased productivity

Printing system spends the whole time printing

Faster response to customer demands

New designs can be introduced rapidly

Products can be personalised/customised on the fly

Textiles

Key industrial applications I

Digital decoration of textiles:

Garment personalisation

Reel-to-reel textile production

Flags, banners, awnings

Soft furnishings

Digital decoration of:

Ceramic wall/floor tiles

Ceramic tableware

Promotional items

Ceramic tiles & tableware

Key industrial applications II

Digital glass printing applications:

Direct print during manufacture

Print polymer laminate

Direct print after manufacture

Architectural

glass

Flooring & furniture

laminates

Digital decoration of:

Wood-effect flooring

(Direct printing and laminates)

Furnishings

Key industrial applications III

Digital decoration of:

Consumer wallpaper

Commercial wallpaper

Commercial vinyl coverings

Digital decoration of:

Automotive glass/headlamps/fairings/parts

Safety/automotive helmets

Security wristbands/identity cards

Optical fibres, wires and connectors

Consumer appliances/products

etc.

Wall coverings

Product

decoration

Examples of some key markets

Application Market Size Market Requirement Opportunity

Textiles

(Direct to garment – DTG)

(Reel to reel – RTR)

Printed textiles $165Bn DTG printing with rapid

turnaround

Cost effective RTR printing

Fast XY inkjet with UV inks

High productivity RTR with

aqueous dye inks

Ceramics

(Tiles)

(Tableware)

>9500 M m2 tiles

printed annually

Yearly equipment sales

>$800m

Wall/floor tile printing with

digital capability

Digital ceramic decal

printing

High throughput fixed array

inkjet + ceramic inks

XY inkjet + ceramic inks

(sampling)

Fast XY + decal ink (decals)

Glass

(Architectural)

(Automotive)

(Appliance)

Printed glass $1.3Bn High productivity

production printing

Fast turnaround batch

printing

Ability to print non-flat

High throughput fixed array

inkjet + high temp inks

XY inkjet + PVB inks/UV inks

Wall/floor/furniture

coverings

Wall/floor covering

printing $1.6Bn globally

Fast high quality digital wall

covering printing

High productivity digital

laminate/decor printing

Rigid furnishings

High throughput fixed array

inkjet + solvent/aqueous inks

XY inkjet + UV inks

Technology pre-qualifiers

Industrial inkjet solutions must have the following:

User friendly and powerful software

Excellent image quality

Good durability of the printed image

Inkjet printing software

Image processing

Geometrical transforms

RIP

Colour management

Printhead-specific data

System integration

Managing system components

Receiving external commands

Variable data printing

Generating each image

Tracking and verification

Image quality

Goal is:

To create images with best possible look

To deposit materials with minimum error

The quality circle relates:

Customer perception (image quality)

e.g. sharpness, colourfulness, contrast

Physical image parameters (print quality)

e.g. optical density, line acuity, dot placement

Technology (ink, printheads, printer, etc)

Image durability

Durability of the printed image is vital

Durability must be sufficient for the application

Effects on durability from

Substrate (material, surface properties, dirt etc)

Ink (binders/monomers/oligomers)

Process (pre/post-treatment)

Adhesion of ink to required substrate

Cross-hatch tape/Scratch/Scuff/abrasion resistance

Film hardness

Solvent/water/specific chemical resistance

Fastness

Water/wash/humidity, Rub/crock, Light/UV, Dark/ozone

Major application drivers

Drivers

Ink chemistry

Reliability

Productivity/Speed

Key developments

UV/pigment inks

Greyscale printheads

Recirculating ink technology

Inkjet modules

Fixed array systems

Diagonal printing systems

Solution design requirements

Reliability

Ink/printhead/nozzle

Printhead assembly/wires/electronics

Ink system/pipework

Maintenance station

Print verification station

Software

Motion system

UV, motion system etc

Cost

Build Cost Vs Redundancy of design for reliability

Running cost Vs Productivity

Ceramic inkjet printer tile industry

Earliest inkjet developments started in approx 2002 (Kerajet and Xennia)

2008 – a few manufacturers with digital systems operating

2010 – more than 10 digital manufacturers

Proliferation based on success

Digital equipment sales now exceed traditional analogue saleson an annual basis

Repeat sales and adoption of inkjet worldwide

Inkjet technology is transforming the ceramic tile industry

Installed base growing rapidly and especially in China

Example: Xennia ceramic inkjet system sales growing + 100% year on year for 3 years

Ceramic tile market

Worldwide ceramic tile output > 9,500M sq m (2010)

Production focussed in Asia and EU (2008 numbers)

Asia 58.8%

EU 19.4%

Central/South America 9.8%

Other Europe (incl. Turkey) 5.2%

Equipment sales in 2008 > $800M

Difficult economic conditions in 2008

Good recovery now

Inkjet growth accelerating

Source: Ceramic World Review

Ceramics market drivers

Key market drivers are:

Shorter product lifecycles

Natural randomisation

Desire for greater product differentiation

Bevelled edges

Textured surfaces

Customisation and personalisation

Wider range of tile types

Different firing regimes for different materials

Thinner tiles use less material (inkjet is non contact)

Shorter print runs

Cost reduction

Reduced inventory and higher yield

Quality

Ceramics market need

Market requirement for ceramic tile printing

Printing system

High productivity (>900 m2/hr)

High reliability (>98% up time)

Cost effective

High quality (300+dpi, greyscale,)

Good colour performance (4+ colours)

Inks

Excellent colour performance when fired

Good reliability in system

Lower operating costs

Printing cost

Comparison of printing costs for analogue and digital

£0.00

£0.50

£1.00

£1.50

£2.00

£2.50

£3.00

£3.50

£4.00

£4.50

0 500 1000 1500 2000

Pri

nt

run

co

st (

£/m

2)

Print run length (m2)

Typical analogue versus digital print run costs

Analogue run cost (£/m2)Digital run cost (£/m2)

Key advances for ceramics

Advanced pigmented inks

Ceramic pigment dispersion technology

Stable and reliable jetting

Fixed array

Ultimate productivity in single pass printing

Need excellent reliability

Recirculating technology

Recirculating printheads and ink systems

High ink/printhead reliability

Variable image technology

Print each image differently on the fly

Example of a ceramic tile inkjet printer

Fixed array, single pass recirculating system

Features

Variable image printing

Print speed 29 m/min (different modes available)

High resolution (300 or 600 dpi, 8 level greyscale)

Multi-colour decoration (4-6 colours)

Print widths 560 mm or 720 mm

High reliability from recirculating technology

Optional maintenance station

Hope Ceramics Inkjet tile printer

Foshan, China

Textile market

Source: Gherzi Research 2008

Over 21Bn metres printed globally

Market value $165Bn

Overall growth 2% CAGR

Technology (2007)

40% rotary screen printing

40% flatbed screen

19% other traditional

1% digital

Regional mix

50% Asia,15% Europe, 11% North America

Digital printing growing rapidly (20% CAGR)

Digital textile market

Source: IT Strategies Spring 2009

RTR digital textile market 2010

Hardware $137m (6% growth)

Ink $454m (15% growth)

Printed output value $1.3Bn (13% growth)

DTG digital textile market 2010

Hardware $184m

23% growth for ~10,000 high end units

Ink $145m (32% growth)

Printed output $2.45Bn (35% growth)

Systems

Mimaki (and Mimaki based), Roland, Mutoh (low end)

Robustelli, Reggiani, Konica Minolta, Osiris (high end)

Inks from Huntsman, Dupont, Xennia, Dystar, BASF, Kiian, Sensient etc

Textile market drivers

Drivers towards digital printing

Reduced time to introduce new designs (few hours versus several days)

Lower energy consumption

Lower water and materials consumption

Reduced cost to introduce new designs (no requirement to make screens)

Competitive for shorter runs

Example: lower cost below1,200m for 8 colour screen versus typical digital

Current typical digital cost €3-5/m2

Average run length decreasing

Now below 2,000m, was 3,500m in 1994

Promise of even lower digital costs, lower at all run lengths

Huge potential for digital textile printing

Source: Gherzi 2008

Textile market need

Market requirement for RTR textiles

Printing system

High productivity (>300 m2/hr)

High reliability (>98% up time)

Cost effective (Cost (€)/productivity(m2/hr) <2000)

High quality (600+dpi, greyscale, 6+ colours)

Inks

Excellent colour performance (competitive with analogue)

Excellent fastness performance (competitive with analogue)

Ink costs that give printed cost < analogue for required run length

Inkjet is independent of run length

Inkjet competitive for short runs

Long run cost due to ink price

Competitive at all run lengths

inks for mass production

WO 2009/056641

New concept

Two print bars printing complementary patterns

1.6-3.0m

New concept

Reciprocating diagonal continuous single pass printing

Diagonal printing

High productivity

All nozzles are used efficiently

Continuous substrate motion

Quality

Greyscale high resolution printing

Disguise missing nozzles & head variability through software algorithms

Redundancy in software, not spare nozzles

No banding

Maintenance without stopping line

Same proven technology as XY systems

High reliability printheads

Flexibility to vary time spent on maintenance

In action

Inkjet textile finishing

Inkjet printers for textile finishing processes

Standalone

Integrated in existing finishing lines

IRUV

Textile Finisher

Printing blanket

Dust cleaning unit

Conventional Dryer Conventional Dryer

Textile value chain

Current textile production technology is labour intensive

Process automation will reduce labour content in costs

Variable costs currently high for inkjet

Inkjet machines will consume tons of ink

Economy of scale dictates lower ink prices

No fundamental reason for prices being higher

Low cost location becomes less important

Logistics will be the key component to control

Digital finishing

Major benefits of “digital finishing” provided by inkjet

Benefits

Multi functionality

Single sided application possible

Two sides can have different functions

Patterning

Functionality applied efficiently to textile surface only

Highly consistent coat weight

Environmental and energy savings

Not influenced by underlying substrate variations

Not influenced by bath concentration and dosing variations

Inkjet finishing

Inkjet approach to digital finishing

Modelling droplet interaction with textile and patterning processes

Pragmatic experimentation with new functionalities

Monitoring of textile and the jetting process

Applications

Slow release technology

Digital dyeing

Hydrophobic coatings

UV

Antimicrobial

Functional materials

Hydrophobic

Comfort of cotton material on skin side

Water and dirt repellent function on outside

UV/EB cured coatings

More rapid, compact in-line processing

More energy efficient than thermal curing

Antimicrobial

New functional materials possible to create effect

Selective deposition, efficient usage

Single sided, patterned to required areas

Examples of functional materials

Inkjet for manufacture

Use inkjet to:

Coat

Create manufacturing processes

Manufacture products

Inkjet printing difficult materials

Pigments (including inorganic), phosphors, metals

Polymers

Functional materials

Key inkjet ink technologies

Pigment and polymer dispersion

Solvent based and UV cure chemistries

Renewable energy

Concerns about

Sustainability

Global warming

Pollution

Lead to increasing trend for clean, renewable energy

Solar photovoltaic

Solar thermal

Wind

Tidal

Geothermal

Solar photovoltaic and wind have greatest potential

Renewable energy proportion still very low (0.8% in 2002)

Solar energy generation

Huge potential for energy generation

840 W/m2 reaches Earth‟s surface during daylight

e.g. 1600 TW strikes continental USA

All electricity needs met with 10% efficient devices covering 2% of area

(Interstate highways currently cover 1.5% of area)

Solar energy harvesting

Thermal – heat from sun heats water

Used for hot water and swimming pools

Photovoltaic – energy from sun used to generate electricity

Can be used for any purpose

Solar photovoltaics

Types of photovoltaic (PV) (solar cells) available

Conventional (inorganic)

1st generation – crystalline Si

2nd gen – poly-Si, a-Si, CdTe or CIGS

Input energy creates electron-hole pairs

Separated by internal field

Generates photocurrent

Organic (small molecule or polymer)

Heterojunction design incorporates:

Electron transport layer (ETL) and hole transport layer (HTL)

Input energy creates excitons

ETL/HTL interface drives dissociation into electrons and holes

„Standard‟ materials P3HT and C60 derivatives

OPV schematic

P3HT bandgap 1.9 eV

PCBM LUMO-P3HT HOMO separation ~ 1eV

Carrier mobilities 10-4 cm2/Vs

Christoph Brabec and James Durrant, Solution-

Processed Organic Solar Cells, MRS Bulletin, 33, 670

(2008)

Device efficiencies >4%

Solar photovoltaics

Key figures of merit for PV

Efficiency

Percentage of incident energy converted into electrical energy

Includes collection efficiency as well as conversion efficiency

Cost

Measured in $ (or €)/Wp

Current typical cost 2-8$/Wp

Need to reduce significantly

Lifetime

Minimum 3-5 years

Desirable 20-25 years

Key cost drivers

Key to reducing cost of PV

Lower cost materials

Lower cost manufacturing

Continuous

Additive (no waste)

Flexible

Manufacturing techniques

Traditional semiconductor techniques

Thermal/electron beam evaporation

CVD/MOCVD etc

Other coating techniques

Spin coating

Spray coating

Printing

Flexo/gravure printing

Screen printing

Inkjet printing

Traditional techniques

Thermal/electron beam evaporation

Material is heated and evaporates

Deposits onto substrate and layer grows

CVD/MOCVD

Material made into volatile compound

Compound decomposes to deposit material

Spin coating

Material in solution spun on flat surface

Uniform coating with evaporation of solvent

Spray coating

Solution sprayed on surface

Solvent evaporates

Technology comparison

Technology Applicability Scalability Productivity Materials

Wastage

Film

quality

Process

type

Multiple

layers?

Thermal

evaporation

(vacuum)

Inorganic/

small

molecule

Low Low (batch) Moderate High Subtractive Yes but

slow

CVD (low

pressure)

Inorganic/

small

molecule

Low Low (batch) Moderate High Subtractive Yes but

slow

Spin-coating Polymer/small

molecule

Low Low (batch) Poor Medium Subtractive Yes but

slow

Spray-coating

or doctor

blade

Polymer/small

molecule

High High Poor Low Subtractive Yes

Screen or

gravure

printing

Inorganic/

polymer/small

molecule

Medium Very high Moderate Medium Additive Yes but

damage?

Inkjet printing Inorganic/

polymer/small

molecule

High High Good Medium Additive Yes

Gas phase versus solution phase deposition

Low cost manufacturing

Inkjet has the potential to allow low cost manufacturing of PV

Can create a new market dynamic for solar energy production

Need to deposit

PV materials

Contacts

Applications for low cost PV

Low cost, flexible PV allows

Lower cost of „conventional‟ power generation PV

Easier installation

Return on investment reasonable for mass market

Enable new applications not currently possible/significant

Power generation for mobile devices

Power generation for signage

Power generation in clothing

Applications example

Sestar Technologies LLC

SolarTurf™

PV incorporated into synthetic grass

Light absorbing layer can be coloured

Absorbing grass is green!

Make compatible with existing consumer products

Allows power generation from existing areas

Lower cost of lighting public and private areas

Applications example

Sestar Technologies LLC

SolarFabrics™

PV incorporated into clothing

Military and civilian

Absorbing materials in all colours

Allows power generation from clothing

Powering phones, radios, iPods, GPS

Powering active camouflage

Applications example

Sestar Technologies LLC

SolarFabrics™

PV incorporated into tents, awnings, etc

Multiple colours

Allows power generation to campsites, homes and buildings

Powering portable devices

Lower cost of lighting public and private areas

Market size

Photovoltaic market growing significantly

20-25% per annum

$30Bn industry generating 32GW

Faster introduction impeded by costs

Impact from

Subsidies

Regulations (e.g. specified renewables percentage)

Emissions taxes

Low cost solutions have massive potential

Outlook

Potential

Solar power generation everywhere!

Based on low cost production

Challenges

Increase efficiency

OPV ~1/3 efficiency of conventional

Increase stability

OPV relatively unstable

Outlook

Thin film (2nd gen) market share in the global solar PV market

Grew from 2.8% in 2001 to 25% in 2009

Set to increase its share to ~38% by 2020

Impact of lower cost technologies already clear

Significant share from emerging technologies expected 2015

Source: GBI research, F-Forecast

Outlook

Inkjet deposition ready to replace conventional techniques

2008: First organic solar cell fabricated with inkjet

Commercialised inkjet PV production in 2009

Report 1.5m wide, 40m/min

Inkjet printed electronics expected to grow

€62M in 2008

€3,079 in 2013

Source: Plus Plastic Electronics, Pira International