Covestro and Kronos Jointly Launch Printing Materials Portfolio for Digital Inkjet Printing

Covestro collaborated with Kronos to release solutions that support the application of digital inkjet printing materials on textile materials, thereby further promoting the sustainable transformation of the textile industry.

The textile industry's carbon reduction and sustainability path is in full swing. Digital printing is becoming an alternative to traditional analog printing by reducing waste by 85%, energy consumption by 55%, water consumption by 60% and carbon dioxide emissions by 95%.

Sustainability in the Textile Industry, in addition to reducing the carbon footprint in the production process, digital printing can help printed products have efficiency advantages such as shorter time to market and single-digit batch production close to the end consumer. These advantages mean that the adoption of inkjet printing is growing, but the technology can only reach its potential if supported by advanced formulations and carefully selected raw materials designed specifically for digital textile printing. Not all polyurethane adhesives are suitable.

Titanium dioxide supplier Kronos and Covestro jointly released a new generation of sustainable digital printing solutions, demonstrating how innovative new material solutions can support the application of digital inkjet printing on fabrics, thereby promoting the sustainability of the textile industry transformation. After testing by both raw material suppliers and validation by industry partners, the collaboration successfully demonstrates the combination of Covestro’s waterborne INSQIN® product portfolio, consisting of Impranil® polyurethane dispersion and Imprafix® cross-linker, with the white pigment dispersion KRONOS 9900 Digital White compatible. No significant precipitation was observed and all formulated systems showed good stability even after 4 weeks of testing at 50°C.

Therefore, it is an exciting development that the compatibility of four Covestro polyurethane dispersions Impranil ® DL 1602, Impranil ® DL 1618, Impranil ® DL 1620 and Impranil ® DL 1623 with KRONOS 9900 Digital White has been confirmed , opening the door for increased adoption of inkjet fabric printing. These ingredients create a formula suitable for reliable printing processes.

Covestro has also developed a new polyurethane dispersion, Impranil ® DL 1606, specifically designed to address the specific problem of sagging due to the relatively high ink loads required for direct-to-foil (DTF) printing.

The polyurethane dispersion Impranil ® DL 1606 offers excellent sag resistance and enables high white ink loading, making it an excellent choice for white pigment inks used in inkjet printing. Its performance in terms of compatibility, stability, printability and image quality has been validated by Covestro’s innovation partner customers, which means textile manufacturers can be confident in achieving high-quality results for digital printing environments and efficiency advantage.

Dr. Torsten Pohl, global head of textile coatings at Covestro, said: “By joining forces with Kronos, we can solve two key pigment ink challenges facing the growing digital inkjet printing market: formulation and sag. Partnering with Kronos, brings us another challenge one step closer to a more sustainable textile industry!”

Jürgen Bender, Global Market Development Manager at Kronos: “With this collaboration, we have ensured the compatibility of our innovative KRONOS 9900 digital white water-based pigment concentrate with Covestro’s INSQIN ® polyurethane dispersions, ideal for direct-to-foil fabric printing. In addition , the new KRONOS development addresses the need for highest stability in inkjet applications on the bottle, on the cylinder, on the printhead, in flight and on the substrate. Together we are clearing the barriers to the adoption of more sustainable digital printing technologies."