When discussing inkjet inks, there are three main categories – water-based, solvent-based and UV curing – that are on the market. There are advantages and disadvantages when it comes to the various inkjet technologies, depending on the application being printed, and there is no consensus as to which technology is the most dominant.
   
Craig Reid, VP – Digital Division, INX International Ink Co., said that each of these technologies have value.
   
“Even though solvent ink is not growing at the rate it was back in the early days of inkjet, we still regularly have new development projects with our clients – often times requiring a new application use that still fits into the category of solvent-based ink,” Reid added. “That said, energy-based inks, hybrid UV inks and polymer encapsulated pigmented aqueous inks still offer some of the biggest differentiators that will be needed for the further adoption of inkjet for more and more applications.”
   
“Wikoff Color’s focus for growth is in the industrial print space, where solvent and UV offer the most versatility, safety and durability,” said John Pettus, national sales and marketing for Wikoff Color. “Water-based inkjet has growth opportunities in the high speed copier/press market, where single pass inkjet printing is currently gaining market share.”
   
Some of the leading inkjet ink manufacturers say there are some clear trends emerging among these segments, beginning with the interest in UV LED curing.
   
Stephen Emery, VP, ink and Jetrion industrial press businesses, EFI, said that while there is a sizable installed base of legacy solvent equipment in the market, in the industrial production wide- and superwide-format segment where EFI plays, UV has been the main technology.
   
“LED has become the fastest growing technology,” Emery added. “Most new wide- and superwide-format printers we sell today use LED inkjet inks and we expect the market will continue shifting to LED. Industrial inkjet with UV inks and especially LED is a big differentiator for EFI as this ink/curing provides the broadest range of media due to the excellent adhesion and flexibility. Adding the LED lamp consistency, lower energy costs and longer life enables printers to utilize our technology for more applications.”
   
“Most of the inkjet inks we sell today are wide spectrum conventional UV curing technology,” noted Peter Saunders, business director – digital, Sun Chemical. “However, we are seeing significant growth in UV LED. There is significant regional demand for UV LED, and many bigger players in the market are looking at UV LED because of its environmental benefits.
   
“Over the years as lamp and ink technology have advanced, at SunJet we have developed a series of graphic inks, which fully cure with UV LED exposure. We also have inks for imprinting applications that use exclusively LED lamps in single pass,” Saunders added. “In narrow web applications, we have inks that are tuned to either use LED lamps to ‘pin’ drops for print quality optimization, or can be fully cured with correctly selected lamps. The SunJet UV LED inks are part of the Crystal and EtiJet product ranges.”
   
For textile printing, water-based inkjet inks remain the primary technology.
   
“There are some industries that are established in water-based technologies and will not change,” Dr. Christophe Bulliard, marketing director, Sensient Imaging Technologies SA, said. “Textile printing is an example. In graphic applications, several actors are asking for water-based solutions as these are usually perceived as safer for the user and totally odorless. They will however only be able to dislodge UV curing if there is a technical advantage or if they are economically equal or more advantageous.”
   
Saunders said that aqueous ink technologies are also on the rise.
   
“We also see aqueous ink technology as a great opportunity for the future,” Saunders noted. “In the very near future, we expect aqueous to move mainstream. We believe it has the potential to leapfrog solvent inkjet inks. The latex inks market is also growing. Recent developments in this field have opened the industry’s eyes to water-containing inks.”
 
Ponzo said that water-based inkjet inks still hold the leading position in paper-based packaging.
   
“Aqueous-based inks have the smallest environmental footprint vs. UV and solvent, and as we find solutions to meet the print quality challenge on coated and packaging media, we anticipate aqueous inks to gain the lion’s share of the print on paper market, including paper-based packaging products,” Samuel Ponzo, business manager, DuPont Digital Printing, reported.
   
“According to DuPont estimates, the digital inkjet printing market is led by aqueous ink jet with a large majority share,” he added. “The balance is comprised of solvent and UV inks. Over the next few years, we expect strong growth, led by water-based growing by double digits. Solvent is expected to continue losing share to aqueous and UV. Water-based inks have the advantage of being both more environmentally and user-friendly. All of inkjet is expected to grow at a healthy rate over the next several years, as it continues to be easier to handle and operate within print shops, and has cost benefits.”
   
Still, solvent-based inks are have a solid share of the inkjet market, particularly as companies develop eco solvent inks.
   
“With the growth of the UV curable technology, many expected that this would be at the expense of the solvent ink market,” said Ruth Zach, marketing coordinator, Bordeaux Digital Printink Ltd. “However, not only is the solvent ink market not declining, but actually continues to grow with new eco/mild solvent printers being introduced, such as the Mimaki JV-300 and the Roland Pro4, for which Bordeaux offers Mix & Match inks as part of their printer specific solutions.”
           
“Solvent and eco-solvent are products that Sun Chemical markets under the Streamline brand,” Saunders added. “The Streamline aftermarket business is growing strongly, and Sun Chemical has announced plans to increase share in the U.S. market.”