Kornit begins rollout of new Atlas MATRIX platform
Following a showcase at FESPA Global Print Expo, Kornit Digital has begun the commercial rollout of its Atlas MATRIX platform, which allows for printing on polyester, blends, and sublimated fabrics
British manufacturer, Xaar, is advancing a water-based glaze process for ceramic printing, which is seeing significant adoption for wide-format and oversized tiles and slabs
The latest wide-format print innovation is coming from an unlikely place: the world of ceramics.
Xaar is a British technology company that specialises in the development and manufacture of industrial inkjet printheads and associated digital inkjet technologies.
One of Xaar’s focuses is driving print innovation across the global ceramics industry, particularly for wide-format tiles and slabs.
The company’s printheads, technologies, and collaborative partnerships are helping to support the adoption of water-based digital glaze, a significant process development in ceramics.
The water-based glaze process has moved from early laboratory trials to full industrial deployment, with the technology now being used to deliver premium decorative effects and customisation for products including large slabs and sintered stone.
By eliminating many of the limitations associated with traditional belt and steel belt moulds, water based digital glaze is helping the sector shift towards more digital, customisable, and cost-effective print processes.
Xaar’s Ultra High Viscosity technology allows jetting of fluids through a much broader viscosity window than traditional printheads can handle, with high pigment loads and larger particles.
This enables the digital production of deep textures, matte and gloss combinations, intricate reliefs, metallics and lustre finishes, as well as high-thickness glaze layers in a single pass.
The Xaar Aquinox printhead is also designed to enable reliable jetting of challenging aqueous formulations with up to 50% solids and large particle sizes. This high laydown capability supports glaze deposition levels up to 350g/sq m from a single printhead, creating new opportunities for tile manufacturers adopting water-based digital glaze processes.
Esmalglass-Itaca, a global provider of ceramic inks and special effect materials, has collaborated closely with Xaar to develop high solid, large particle aqueous inks optimised for the Aquinox.
Adoption of the technology is already particularly strong in China, where equipment suppliers, materials companies, and ceramic producers are all working towards the industrialisation of water-based digital glaze.
Commenting on the company’s progress, Michael Walsh, director or technical sales at Xaar, says: “As digitalisation in ceramics accelerates, we are expanding what is possible with inkjet.
“Our Ultra High Viscosity and High Laydown technologies, combined with close collaboration with partners such as Esmalglass-Itaca, are enabling advanced effects and finishes to be delivered with digital precision and consistency. We look forward to continuing this journey and helping customers innovate and evolve their ceramic production processes.”
