AstroNova and Specialty Papers & Films (SPF-Inc) have formed a partnership that combines their respective QuickLabel and Metallograph divisions to facilitate, ‘an easy, cost-effective digital printing method for producing flexible circuits.’

SPF-Inc is a technical consultancy supporting the printing and packaging industries globally. iimak’s Metallograph thermal transfer conductive technology is available from SPF-Inc as conductive thermal transfer ribbons suitable for printed electronics and RFID antennas.

AstroNova designs, manufactures, distributes and services a broad range of products that acquire, store, analyse and present data in multiple formats. The Product Identification segment of the company includes TrojanLabel and QuickLabel.

QuickLabel manufactures and distributes sophisticated thermal transfer printing systems for durable and high-end prime labels into diverse industries, many of which are now investing in flexible electronics. QuickLabel’s industrial thermal transfer printers are suited for Metallograph, according to AstroNova, especially multi-layer printed electronics. With the inclusion of Metallograph continuous metallic conductive ribbons, QuickLabel can provide even greater value to its customer base.

‘Our new partnership with SPF expands our potential opportunities with flexible printed circuits technology,’ noted Michael Natalizia, AstroNova’s CTO and vice president of strategic technical alliances. ‘We look forward to leveraging our full complement of thermal transfer components and the reliability and print quality of QuickLabel’s thermal transfer platform to grow with SPF in this exciting industry.’

SPF-Inc president Dene Taylor said, ‘We are excited to partner with QuickLabel, which has deep experience manufacturing printed circuit boards and supporting RFID applications, and has expertise with primary Metallograph applications.’

A QuickLabel QLS-4100 XE multi-layer roll-to-roll printer with Metallograph ribbons is shown at Printed Electronics USA later this month in Santa Clara, California. This is claimed as, ‘the most productive single pass output device in this industry,’ by AstroNova and SPF-Inc.

Mr Taylor noted, ‘As a result of our partnership, QuickLabel is the first narrow web, full system provider to the flexible electronics industry.’