At ITMA 2023 Kyocera Corporation Release Their FOREARTH─A New Sustainable Inkjet Textile Printer
Image By Courtesy of Kyocera Corporation
Kyocera Corporation has announced the release of the FOREARTH roll-to-roll inkjet textile printer.
The company will demonstrate the FOREARTH printer at ITMA 2023, which will be held in Milan (Italy) from June 8th-14th in Hall 7 : Booth E301.
It is an all-in-one printing system that uses new patented inks, pre-treatment fluids, and finishers that are sequentially applied by inkjet printheads to the material.
The FOREARTH printing system eliminates the need for textile pre- and post-processing processes required in conventional ink printing and reduces water consumption when printing textiles by 99%.
In addition, this new printing solution contributes to the reduction of energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, as it does not require large equipment used for pre- and post-processing processes.
The printer can be equipped with 18 Kyocera inkjet printheads with ink recycling and print in 8 colors (CMYK + 4 special colors) at a resolution of 600 × 600 dpi. Print width - up to 1800 mm, productivity - 250 m² / h in standard mode.
Development Background
Traditional analog textile printing consumes a large amount of water, especially in the washing and steaming processes, and wastewater pollution due to fabric printing is a long-standing issue around the world. In addition, waste resulting from the mass disposal of overstocked clothing is also an environmental concern, and the textile and apparel industries are under pressure to take immediate action toward alleviating this issue.
Kyocera developed our new inkjet textile printer, FOREARTH, that combines patented inkjet, ink, and printing equipment technology to contribute to solving these environmental problems.
Dramatically Reduces Water Usage In Textile Printing.
In general, textile printing uses dye ink and requires a large amount of water for the pre- and post-treatment processes, such as steaming and washing. FOREARTH is an All-in-One printing system that uses new proprietary pigment ink, pre-treatment liquid, and finishing agent, which are constantly discharged in the same sequence from the inkjet head. This system eliminates the pre- and post-processes required of conventional dye printing and reduces the water consumption of textile printing by 99%*3.
Also, this new printing solution contributes to reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions because it does not need large-scale equipment used for the pre- and post-treatment processes of textile printing.
Proprietary Pigment Ink Realizes Both Soft Hand-Feel Prints And High Fastness In A Wide Range Of Fabrics.
Conventional dye digital printing generally requires different types of dyes for various fabrics made from different fibers.
FOREARTH solves the typical problems of pigment printing, such as less color development, fastness, and hard hand-feel, by using Kyocera's proprietary ink technology and knowledge in a new, All-in-One printing system. This enables highly detailed printing on diverse fabrics ranging from cotton, silk, and polyester to nylon and blended fabrics with a single machine.
Also, it is adaptable to a wide range of categories too, from ladies' fashion and sportswear to babywear and home textiles.
Digital Textile Printing Does Not Rely On Water Resources
It supports optimized manufacturing location setting and optimized production volumes and contributes to the reduction of logistic costs, time, and excess inventories.
In general, textile dyeing factories are operated in areas with abundant water resources since the printing process uses a large amount of water. On the other hand, FOREARTH needs only a small amount of water for printing, so the production site can be located anywhere, such as on-shore, near-shore, or in more suitable areas, like places close to consumers.
Plus, FOREARTH's simple two-step printing and drying system drastically shortens the number of steps from design to production. As a result of this streamlined processing, FOREARTH supports optimized production and location setting and therefore can handle small-lot printing and shorten delivery times, helping reduce logistic costs and surplus inventories.
Moreover, FOREARTH can complete print production within a small area footprint compared to conventional textile printing, which requires many more printing processes with separate equipment, as you can see in the picture above.
