Kao Collins has developed Sigma, a solvent ink for HP 45si thermal inkjet (TIJ) technology, and claimed to offer an ‘industry-leading’ decap time.
Sigma is a solvent-based ink formulated to dry quickly on difficult media such as plastic films, PVC, UV coats, and some metals, with extended printhead open times.
The ink manufacturer noted that a short decap for solvent inks on the market wastes time and money. Decap time is the period of time that a printhead can be left uncapped and idle and still produce a high quality code when printing is restarted. Kao Collins set out to improve this and to reduce the wiping and purging of nozzles, which slow production.
Sigma is claimed to achieve fast curing without external heat sources and increases decap to at least four times that of other inks on the market. Decap time is listed as being greater than four hours. The aggressive solvent also dries quickly on plastics.
Not only does Sigma deliver a much longer decap, lab testing shows a shelf life for individual cartridges of at least 12 months is possible. With further testing, chemists at Kao Collins expect results showing an even longer shelf life.
Sigma is suited for mailing and addressing industries along with use in packaging converting. The ink adheres to a wide range of substrates, including films such as BOPP, PE, PET and PP, foils, a variety of label materials, some metals, and numerous other non-porous materials.
Kristin Adams, marketing manager at Kao Collins, said, ‘We saw how many solvent ink users struggled with the short decap. This ink changes everything and sets Kao Collins apart with Sigma.’
Kao Collins is a long-term HP Specialty Printing Systems (SPS) ink partner, supplying standard and customized fluids in genuine, brand new HP TIJ cartridges (45ai, 45si, 45bi and 45ci). Kao Collins offers a variety of inks for mailing and addressing, direct mail, package printing and product coding.
