While the wood and vinyl tile market isn’t one that many people might associate with printing, the use of printing is important in laminate flooring and wood visual vinyl, which are two of the four largest flooring segments. These markets are sizable, and Sun Chemical sees an excellent opportunity to leverage its capabilities in these segments.
 
Sun Chemical will highlight its full range of water-based gravure and digital wood and luxury vinyl tile inks to the North American wood flooring market during the 2016 International Woodworking Fair (IWF), which will be held in Atlanta, GA from Aug. 24-27.
 
“Our customers in the wood and luxury vinyl flooring market need inks that are durable, colorful and easy to maintain,” said Charles Murray, president of North American Inks, Sun Chemical. “With 40 years of experience in this market, Sun Chemical’s solutions meet all of those requirements on a wide variety of wood flooring applications, from laminate vinyl and preimpregnated paper to plastic, wallpaper and even direct printing on rigid materials.”
 
Thomas Coffey, field marketing manager Décor, North American Inks, Sun Chemical, noted that there are four key flooring products that fit into the wood industry: hardwood, engineered wood, laminate flooring, and wood visual vinyl, including luxury vinyl tiles.
 
“Hardwood and engineered woods are typically stained and then coated several times with products like polyurethane with a hardening agent, such as aluminum oxide,” Coffey said. “No printing is done on these, but there are enormous opportunities for coatings in each.
 
“Laminate flooring is printed paper adhered to a core with a melamine film layer laminated to the paper,” added Coffey. “Coatings aren’t used here, but there is an opportunity for Sun Chemical to sell to manufacturers that sell in the laminate market and ready-made furniture.”
 
In the wood visual vinyl market, film is printed and adhered to a substrate (vinyl) and then coatings are applied.
 
“The printing and coating volume in this market is enormous,” Coffey said. “Low end wood visuals have been around for decades, but it has been mainly in the last 15 years that excellent visuals have been available in vinyl, laminate and newly emerging products like luxury vinyl tiles.”
 
In particular, gravure printing is used mostly in this field, with digital printing making some inroads.
 
“Gravure printing is by far the leader, although some companies have digital plans for some applications in the future,” Coffey noted.
 
Wood flooring tends to get scuffed up, and the use of cleaning products is also a challenge. Inks and coatings used to print on wood and vinyl flooring have to be able to handle this punishment.
 
“Having great color and adhesion coupled with having a superior coating that protects products from everyday wear and exposure to cleaning agents, foot traffic and sun exposure are the largest challenges,” said Coffey.
 
“The inks are as important as the coatings and vise-versa in this market,” Coffey added. “To be able to develop one system with the world’s largest ink and coatings manufacturer is a win-win for the industry.”