“For the last few years, the conventional wisdom has been that printers choose electrophotographic (EP) presses for high quality and inkjet for high speed and lower costs,” says Wim Maes, CEO of Xeikon. “Xeikon’s Trillium technology changes this thinking as it utilizes the best of both and closes the gap between speed/cost and quality. As it is toner based and a waterless non-Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) technology, it will also enables printing on untreated substrates. Moreover, it is fully compatible with the existing paper recycling technologies and has the potential to become fully sustainable from a toner composition perspective.”
Delivering both high image quality and high speed
Xeikon’s Trillium is a colloidal suspension (or sol) of toner in a carrier liquid (a pharmaceutical grade white oil), which allows toner particles down to 2 microns in size – up to 4 times smaller than its dry form. The smaller toner particles enable high resolution and result in less toner consumption. The unique implementation of High Viscosity Toner (HVT) allows the use of the smallest gaps in the transfer zones to deliver a combination of high image quality and high speed. Another key strength of Trillium technology lies in its ability to print mid- to high image coverage at high quality, which makes it particularly suitable for direct marketing and commercial printing applications. Furthermore, the technology offers a lot more head room for both speed and width improvements in the future.
Xeikon owns key technology patents
With ownership of the key patents for both the toner and technology, Xeikon has the rights to incorporate HVT in a printing press and produce the necessary consumables. Recent announcements by other companies clearly illustrate the viability of Toner technology as an alternative to Ink Jet and takes EP to the next level.
The name “Quantum” was an internal name used to describe the liquid development step in the EP process, the patents for which the company acquired a couple of years ago. Today the development step is more commonly described as HVT and is a key part of Trillium.
A six step process
The new printing process consists of six steps: charging, expose & erase, develop & clean, intermediate transfer, substrate transfer and fixation of the toner. The particles are not charged during manufacturing; instead they are charged just before printing. Trillium incorporates both a transfer and fuse process – unlike the transfuse step of other technologies. This allows for a modular-machine approach and speed increases.
Trillium, as implemented by Xeikon, is perfectly compatible with existing deinking and recycling installations and has already been tested. It also uses the same type of polyester resin system as used in Xeikon’s dry toners incorporating an environmental friendly catalyst which includes no organic tin compounds. The carrier liquid is also recycled in the printing process without evaporation, so the toner is 100% VOC free. Furthermore, since the current toner in an oil colloidal suspension (or sol) can be replaced by bio resins and vegetable oil, the new toner also has the potential to become fully sustainable.
Implemented first in presses for the document printing market
Xeikon will first implement the Trillium technology in a new range of printers dedicated to the document and commercial printing markets. The new Trillium-based range of presses will be marketed in parallel with the current 8000 Series.
Come and see Xeikon’s Trillium technology in action at drupa 2012!
On the Bridge to the Future, Xeikon will be offering live demonstrations of Trillium in action. During the show, after a short presentation, the system will run a design to illustrate the speed and quality achievable with the new technology. The model demonstrated at the show will run at a speed of 60 m/min. On the booth, Xeikon will also display some technological illustrations of how Trillium technology can be implemented in a printing press.
drupa 2012 takes place in Düsseldorf, Germany from May 3-16, 2012. Xeikon will exhibit in Hall 8A, Booth B44.
ABOUT XEIKON
Xeikon NV (XEI: AEX) is an innovator in digital printing technology. The company designs, develops and delivers web-fed digital color presses for labels and packaging applications, document printing, as well as commercial printing. These presses utilize LED-array-based dry toner electrophotography, open workflow software and application-specific toners.
As an OEM supplier, Xeikon designs and produces plate makers for newspaper offset printing applications. Xeikon also manufactures basysPrint computer-to-plate (CtP) solutions for the commercial printing market. These proven CtP systems combine the latest exposure techniques with cost-efficient UV plate technology, high imaging quality and flexibility.
For the flexographic market, Xeikon offers digital platemaking systems under the ThermoFlexX brand name. ThermoFlexX systems provide high resolution plate exposure including screening, color management, as well as workflow management.
All the Xeikon solutions are designed with the overarching principles of profitability, quality, flexibility and sustainability in mind. With these guiding principles and a deep, intimate knowledge of its customers, Xeikon continues to be one of the industry's leading innovators of products and solutions.
For more information, visit www.xeikon.com.
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