Inkjet printing technology company Xennia has demonstrated new tools for inkjet printing on textiles, highlighting the possibility to add conductive inks to flexible substrates for printed electronics.
The UK-based supplier demonstrated print runs at 350m² per hour, depositing inkjet inks on fabrics. The technology was developed in collaboration with Reggiani, an Italian provider of screen printing technology for textiles. A second, improved version of the machinery will go into beta-testing with some of Reggiani's customers before the end of 2010.
The new system greatly enhances the capability to inkjet print onto textiles, an important factor in the commercialisation of printed electronics devices such as smart textile clothing.
Tim Phillips, marketing manager for Xennia, comments: 'There are some printing systems available, but they are for quite low-end applications, and are quite slow: they usually print at around 10-15m² per hour. As such, they're not really viable alternatives to existing textile production.'
Electronics manufacture
Companies such as NeoDec and BayerMaterialscience are in the process of developing inkjet inks to print conductive lines for electronics, while smart textile manufacturers have urged greater engagement from manufacturers. Adoption of inkjet printing would create more opportunities for smart textile developers to prepare for commercial production.
Xennia is engaged in these efforts as a technology provider on two EU-funded projects to manufacture printed electronics, announced earlier in 2010.
Lotus is a three-year project to develop inks and processes suitable for printed electronics, such as RFID and photovoltaics (PV). The second project, called Nova-CIGS, involves the printing of copper indium gallium selenide solar cells, in partnership with the likes of Umicore, Wuerth Elektronik Research and VTT.
'Certainly printed electronics is one of the potential applications joining several of these developments together. For these EU-funded projects, there is an obvious synergy in using textile substrates,' says Phillips.
End users
The company is working on separate projects to develop technology for printed electronics in automotive, displays, lighting and PV applications, adds Phillips.
However, he admits that the company is waiting to see if its system for inkjet printing on textiles has yet to be applied to flexible or wearable electronics.
'We are continuing to build up our projects, and we are looking to find more end users to apply these to their own applications,' Phillips explains.
Documents and links
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Xennia
The UK-based company produces inkjet printing technology. It is targeting printed electronics applications as a growth area
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