Year: 2008 Industry sector: Sign and Displays

Part design:

Just imagine a cell phone housing bearing the owner’s image or the lid of laptop with a family photo. Three-dimensional plastic components with photorealistic decoration based on the user’s individual wishes have been a rarity until now. However, that could all change now that, for the first time, digital printing technology has been successfully combined with film insert molding (FIM). This has been made possible thanks to a new film structure that we have developed in collaboration with Hewlett Packard Indigo and the Swiss firm Folex imaging. It consists of a digitally printable polycarbonate film based on Makrofol®. After printing, the reverse side of this film has a special second film laminated onto it. The resulting composite can then be thermoformed using high-pressure forming (HPF) and back-injected with plastic. At 812 to 2400 dpi (virtual), the print qualities of the decorative features are significantly higher than in screen printing and are comparable with those achieved in offset printing.
Digital printing has several advantages over screen printing. Makeready times are a thing of the past and printing screens and films are rendered unnecessary. Small quantities, right down to a run of one, are made particularly cost-effective. This is because the design is produced digitally for every printing process and transferred directly onto the film. As a result, decorative features can be changed quickly and printing can be customized at will. Plastics processors will be pleased to hear that it is not absolutely necessary to invest in additional printing equipment. Instead, this operation can easily be outsourced.