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Flexible friend
If it can be printed on paper, more often than not it can be printed on
plastic, yet many shy away from expanding into this area. For the
innovative and undaunted, the rewards are there to be reaped.
In 1967 Benjamin Braddock received one word of advice
from Mr McGuire: Plastics. Fortunately for Dustin
Hoffman’s movie career, the script took him into bed with
Mrs Robinson rather than working alongside Mr McGuire.
Fast forward to 2011 and there is an increasing interest in
plastics, this time as a carrier for a printed message, from a simple
business card to a sophisticated piece of large format lenticular
or 3D display print. In between come all sorts of stickers, badges,
packaging, window films, labels, banners and manuals.
The chances are that if it can be printed, it can be printed on
a plastic material. Yet print on plastic remains a relatively
minority sport, practised by a handful of printers, and daunting
to outsiders.
While, when the sector began to grow 30 years ago, this may
have been true, today there is plenty
of knowledge available,
consumables and materials are
consistent and will produce good
results and all print technologies
can work with plastics.
Today the fastest growing
area appears to be large format
inkjet, where the continuing
improvement in flat bed UV
has opened up new markets
for printing on rigid materials,
principally plastics. Even
PVC, the bete noire of plastic
materials, is less of a problem
than in the past as means of recycling and reusing it have been
developed, albeit using chlorine.
Paper merchants have been expanding the plastics side of
their business, growing from from their sign and display arms
into commercial print. This cross over is increasing as sheetfed
printers add Agfa, Fuji, Océ and other flatbed printers.
ROBERT HORNE LISTS PVCS, polypropylenes, vinyls, acrylics
and polycarbonates among its stock holding. Each has its niche
applications and is preferred for different purposes, whether long
or short life, indoor or outside and will be more or less suitable
for different print technologies. Advice is available on tap.
Likewise Antalis McNaughton has a specialist division
providing these types of material. Chris Green, sign and display
market manager, says: “Anybody should be able to print on
plastics, perhaps amending existing kit to add a UV drying
system. The first thing is to talk to inks suppliers, equipment
suppliers and us as materials suppliers.”
The big difference between printing on plastics rather than
paper lies in getting the ink to hold on the substrate. On papers
and boards ink dries through absorption and evaporation. On
plastics this is not an option, though evaporation will eventual
34 May 2011 www.printbusinessmagazine.co.uk
lead to a dry ink. The answer is to use a UV ink which when
cured becomes completely dry and provided the substrate has
the correct dyne energy level, will adhere to it. The dyne level
can be increased through a corona charging unit, which can be
be added to a sheetfed press. This can be worthwhile if print on
plastic is to become common practice.
Care may be needed in finishing to avoid the ink flaking
during folding or cutting. And techniques new to printers like
welding and heat bending may need to be acquired.
Green adds that Antalis McNaughton can provide samples of
materials for printers to check production behaviour. More
interestingly, the company is expanding the range of materials
that spur creativity. The latest of these is a 3D material, iPrint
Pure which gives a deep 3D effect without the need for a
lenticular lens nor for special glasses.
“It’s something that printers can use
to differentiate themselves from
their competitors,” he says.
“Thanks to the proliferation of 3D
films last year and 3D television,
people are more aware of 3D now.
We introduced this at the Sign &
Display show and visitors loved
it, coming up with all sorts of
creative ideas.”
As well as large format
displays, the material can be
used for business cards
(“turning them into a
conversation piece” says Green), promotional direct mail,
packaging and can be printed by any technology.
“It’s about talking to your materials and inks supplier,” says
Green.
What is clear is that success in this area requires investment
and a commitment to innovation that many printers will find
daunting. For those that can, the rewards are there.
Innovation is something that Harry Skidmore MBE, CEO of
Easibind, has in depth. The iPrint material was first used by
Easibind, printing on its five-colour Manroland 500 B2 press as
HD Pure 3D. The Heanor company started printing on plastic
more than 30 years ago.
AT THE TIME EASIBIND WAS PRINTING paper stationery and
looking for a stronger material for folders and the like. Having
tried lamination, plastics proved the answer. That is still a mark
of whether paper or plastic should be used on a job, a menu
needed for a day or week should be printed on paper, but one
that is expected to last for six months should be printed on a
more durable substrate – plastic.
Easibind deals with business to business customers making
it possible to offer a closed loop recycling system. As the