Printed electronics certainly has its advocates at institutions of higher learning around the world. Colleges and universities that devote funds and faculty to a variety of related scientific disciplines today are exploring the unlimited possibilities that this nascent industry offers. The potential for breaking new ground in printed electronics is foremost in the minds of academics at Clemson University, in the town of Clemson, SC, USA, and also in the minds of industry participants.

The Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design & Graphics is a new presence at Clemson, and will be housed in the Harris A. Smith Building, newly completed at the campus. Smith, the former owner of Smith Container in Georgia, is a major benefactor of the university, as is Sonoco Packaging. Clemson University itself contributed to the project, and the enterprise has attracted the attention of EskoArtwork, the Belgium-based prepress company, as well as Omet, an Italian press manufacturer.

“Packaging is a $200 billion-plus business in the United States, and Clemson has invested to excel in this business knowledge base,” says Chip Tonkin, director of the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics. “In a collaborative effort, Clemson will conduct a holistic approach to packaging sciences, combining many academic disciplines, to learn how to best create packaging – how to print, fill, seal, ship and recycle – responsibly.”

The institute was initially created to exploit the synergies that exist between the Graphic Communications and Packaging Science departments, two departments which are well known in their respective industries but which Harris Smith – who served on the board of the Packaging Science Department – thought should work together more closely. New directions in packaging design is one major objective of the institute’s research, says Jay Sperry, research associate and lecturer at the institute, representing the Department of Graphic Communications.

“Packaging design incorporates much more than the structural and aesthetic elements that typically come to mind,” Sperry says. “Done properly, this process should incorporate a wide range of disciplines, including material properties, structural attributes, environmental sciences, manufacturing, marketing, and psychology.” As this became apparent, the institute’s mission broadened into one that the university expects will have a much greater impact. “The goal is to leverage our core campus strengths along with the knowledge and participation of our industry partners to make significant contributions at three levels – as an academic stimulator, an industry resource for training and research, and a driving force to bring new technologies and innovations to the packaging and graphics markets.”

Sperry says that the model in place for training and research is being built upon to provide regular industry contact and insight into the needs of the packaging markets for future innovations. “This understanding of the market is particularly valuable when making decisions regarding the focus of directed research and development at Clemson University. Thus the institute is becoming a breeding ground of sorts for ‘game changing’ technologies. These could be unusual research, crossover technologies, or other innovations that can be coaxed out of collaborations within the university, with other universities or industry partnerships.

The final goal, and the real asset of the institute, he says, will be to take these unusual developments and convert them to practical reality. The focus of these activities will be in areas that are both of significant interest to the industry and are in fields that the university as a whole has a lot to offer. The institute has identified four initial areas in which to devote resources: printed electronics, sustainability, the consumer experience, and the total package workflow.

Printed electronics research

Using traditional printing methodologies to economically create functionality on a package is something the market is clearly interested in, and could include things like displays, RFID, environmental and/or biological sensors. “Advancing the applications and usage of printed electronics in packaging is a natural fit for Clemson because of our practical applied approach to the printing process, advances in optical materials research, high quality engineering and science programs, and thorough knowledge of the packaging requirements and test procedures,” Sperry says.

Printed electronics initiatives began at Clemson in 2004 with the awarding of the Sun Chemical Graduate Student Fellowship offered by the Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) for study of flexographically printed conductive inks suitable for RFID antennas. “Clemson’s angle from the beginning was to apply our unique strengths in flexographic printing optimization and characterization to silver-based conductive inks,” he says. “The results from that project included a functional RFID antennae printed inline with four-color process graphics to produce a final package with the RFID tag integrated.

“The flexographic community responded strongly to this research and the FTA awarded the grant for a consecutive year, the first multi-year project since the program began. We then moved into the flexographic direct-print corrugated market to incorporate RFID antenna during printing of the corrugated shipping containers. Results of this research included a proof of concept with working RFID antenna printed directly onto corrugated board with the flexographic printing process.”

The expertise gained by Clemson in the field of printed conductive inks, he reports, opened up the doors for specialty ink suppliers to perform print trials during their research and development projects using Clemson’s printing resources, creating the university’s first academic/industrial collaboration in the field of printed electronics.

“At about this same time, we began an internal joint development agreement with Clemson’s Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET) to take advantage of printing expertise and resources for the deposition of advanced materials, novel conducting polymers and for the creation of P-OLED devices. This relationship has helped educate Clemson on some of the technical requirements of printing unusual chemistries, as well as the opportunity for the printing and packaging industry to participate in the exciting, wide-open field of printed electronics. This collaboration resulted in two cover articles in the Journal of Materials Chemistry, one US and international filed patent, and a continued support system for companies wanting to use Clemson for research and development activities.”

The outlook for printed electronics at Clemson is exciting to all involved: Director Tonkin, Sperry, Andrew Hurley from Packaging Science, and their associates at the institute and in the departments that form the foundation. They have brand new facilities and organizational support within the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics. By the fourth quarter of this year, the Sonoco Institute will have a full service lab, from ink optimization and prototyping, to a demonstrable roll-to-roll product for the printed electronics industry. “The lab serves those in need of research, development, and demonstration facilities for their own material or printing evaluation, as well as the creation of prototypes and short run production of sales samples,” Sperry says. “This collaborative research environment aims to bring together specialized parties to produce tangible products in a quicker timetable that currently exists in the United States.”

Donors and partners

One of the centerpieces at the institute is a new Omet Varyflex press, the result of a new partnership between the press manufacturer and Clemson, which will be available for student R&D, industry activities and Omet customer demonstrations. The narrow web press features seven printing stations that can be configured as rotary screen, flexography or rotogravure, with a variety of solvent-based, water-based and UV curable ink systems. The platform can handle polymer substrates as thin as 12 microns, or paperboard materials as heavy as 600 microns, while achieving high-end registration through a complete servo controlled system.

Prior to production on the Omet press, the staff can optimize and specify printing requirements by using a variety of bench-top ink proofing systems requiring very small quantities of ink, assuring the most economical research and development practices.

“In order to fully configure our printed electronics lab infrastructure, we are developing industry partnerships of founding members in our development efforts, as well as aggressively pursuing government grants and working to dedicate internal resources, says Sperry. “It is only through active industry participation that we gather the network of professionals in a variety of disciplines to solve our end customer’s problems, and produce turnkey solutions involving functional inks and devices in an aggressive time to market.”

Sonoco Packaging’s gift is not its first to the university. In 1992 the company provided $500,000 for a laboratory that was dedicated the following year as the Sonoco Packaging Science Laboratory. The company’s president and CEO, Harris DeLoach Jr., says that the company understands the value of a research university partnership. “Preparing the next generation of packaging and graphics professionals is vital. Research drives change and we have to be able to change to compete more effectively. We are changing – changing the way the world sees packaging, and changing the way the world sees us.”

The Sonoco funds have been used in construction of the institute’s building, and there are commitments of gifts-in-kind for technology support of the institute. It is expected that the institute will be self-sustaining with revenue derived from activities.

Another substantial donor to the institute is EskoArtwork, which has enabled the creation of the EskoArtwork Packaging Supply Chain Laboratory. The laboratory will focus on combining the synergies of packaging design and graphic communications into the overall production and distribution manufacturing process.

Three specific areas will be established within the lab. The first is devoted to design workflow, where, with the benefit of collaboration with brand management, it will demonstrate the full integration of the design and production process, leading to digital output. This is served by Design Lifecycle Management software, such as Studio, DeskPack, and WebCenter. The second is a workflow production and digital converting area, where users can experiment with workflow software and tools from the Digital Flexo Suite. This includes the Esko BackStage workflow server, Plato step and repeat, and the PackEdge pre-production editor along with output software such as PlatePrep. A third portion of the lab focuses on sample making and the means to produce cartons and point-of-purchase materials.

“Although very successful in academic circles, much of this research has been done in relative isolation, and in many cases, without practical application or development,” says Carsten Knudsen, president of EskoArtwork. “The Sonoco Institute and the EskoArtwork Packaging Supply Chain Lab will serve to match the packaging market needs and future directions with the multi-disciplinary opportunities on campus by focusing people, resources and attention on issues that otherwise could not be addressed.”