XAAR reveals research on impact of jetting high viscosity aqueous inks

Host of visitors to the recent XAAR Open Day & FuturePrint Tech conference at Cambridge were the first to see the results of a research study into jetting high viscosity water-based inks. It was performed by Dr Chris Phillips and Professor Davide Deganello at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, Swansea University. During the Open Day, Dr Chris provided independent evidence of the results of jetting higher viscosity inks when compared to ‘conventional’ viscosities on both coated and uncoated substrates. Using the XAAR Aquinox printhead and cyan water-based inks by Nazdar, the research team showed several advantages to printing high viscosity fluids, which is enabled by XAAR’s Ultra High Viscosity Technology.

XAAR’s printhead technology capabilities meant that the higher viscosity sample saw the same printing outcome with less ink, offering significant sustainability benefits through both reducing the volume of ink required and the energy needed in drying. Two ink sets were tested, one with a higher pigment loading, and both high and conventional viscosity inks in each ink set had a fixed pigment to binder ratio to enable a fair comparison. This demonstrated that viscosity was the key enabler to the improved colour results rather than the pigment loading.