Car Wrapping with Mimaki – Is UV the Cure?
With developments in digital printing, Mimaki’s newest UV curable inks provide automotive wrappers a revolutionary new strategy to improve your journey.
Automotive wrapping has grow to be extra artistic and experimental than ever earlier than. Immediately’s present developments see vivid new textures, vivid colors, and daring patterns adorning autos everywhere in the world, which look to stay in style for years to come back.
Nonetheless, the enterprise of automotive wrapping is just not new, quite the opposite, it has been round because the Nineteen Twenties. For a few years tailored paint jobs, whereas price prohibitive for many, dominated the marketplace for automobile customisation. Folks had been capable of give their autos a full makeover with designs of their very own selecting, and refined, and not-so-subtle results or colors. These had been typically unobtainable from the unique vendor, which means that the personalized automobile was actually one in every of a sort. Suppose again to John Lennon’s well-known 1969 Rolls Royce Phantom, painted with a flower energy design, befitting the time, which was categorically refused by Rolls Royce when initially requested by the Beatles star. With bespoke designs now a typical sight throughout movie and TV, automobile customisation has hit new heights of recognition, and personalising your automobile is deemed a standing image by many.
Immediately, newer types of customisation are actually dominating the scene, and gone are the times of simply conventional customized paint jobs, in favour of the newer, less complicated, extra reasonably priced, and finally extra environment friendly automotive wrapping.
The Expertise
The automotive wrapping {industry}’s estimated worth surpassed a whopping $4.7 billion USD on the finish of 2021 and is forecast solely to extend over the approaching years, with a predicted progress of twenty-two% by 2030[1]. Evidently, there was enormous momentum within the {industry}, and the assorted inroads which have led to this come from developments within the expertise and supplies used, from the movie, ink, adhesives to the printer itself.
The method is straightforward. Wrappers use large-format roll-to-roll printers to print colors, designs and now textures, onto a vinyl movie with an adhesive layer, that’s then fastened to the automobile utilizing a warmth gun to set off the adhesive.
Historically, eco-solvent and latex inks had been the staple for wrappers, famend for his or her sturdiness. Nonetheless, as these eco-solvent wraps fall brief as a result of time wanted to dry the inks earlier than the lamination course of can happen, extra corporations are beginning to search for alternate options.
To rework the market, Mimaki realised that to avoid wasting wrappers much more money and time, a brand new type of methodology would must be carried out.
Is UV the Remedy?
It was all the time extensively thought that UV-curable inks wouldn’t work for automotive wraps, because the rigidity and inflexibility of the ink would stop it from easily becoming to the curves and concaves of a automobile.
As specialists in roll-to-roll and flatbed printing and with an intensive portfolio of UV printers, Mimaki embraced this problem, and their R&D division made it their objective to be the primary to make these UV curable inks relevant to wrapping.
Due to Mimaki’s LUS-170 and LUS-190 inks, developed for the adorning world, Mimaki is demonstrating not solely that these UV inks are greater than appropriate for automotive wrapping, however that the outcomes far exceeded these of the standard strategies, each when it comes to high quality and efficiency. When mixed with one in every of Mimaki’s UV roll-to-roll printers, which treatment the ink as a part of the printing course of, they discovered that the end-to-end course of was considerably quicker when put next with standard strategies.
With excessive flexibility and materials adhesion, the LUS inks can obtain excessive element accuracy and precision ranges. As well as, totally different finishes may be realised the place by no means earlier than, comparable to shiny and matte, and even embossed results.
One other profitable function of those inks is their excessive resistance to exterior elements, comparable to weathering, washing, stones, and so on. Regardless of this, the removing of the wrapping made with Mimaki’s UV inks is straightforward to carry out, in contrast to earlier strategies, and leaves the machine’s bodywork fully intact.
To Wrap it Up
The continued reputation of automotive wrapping, bolstered by developments in digital inkjet printing, will inevitably result in additional thrilling developments and potentialities, engaging increasingly more corporations and end-users in. What’s extra, because the capabilities continues develop, progressive creatives are beginning to look past wrapping simply autos. Regardless of for enterprise or pleasure, vinyl wrapping will ensue, and Mimaki shall be there each step of the best way.
[1] https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/automotive-wrap-film-market