David Savastano, Editor11.22.19
The potential applications for the flexible and printed electronics industry appear to be virtually endless, and electronic and conductive inks are essential to this fast-growing technology. Estimates place the conductive ink field at $2.5 billion. To meet the needs of this growing field, conductive ink manufacturers are working on new high-tech materials.
These were some of the key takeaways during the Electronic and Conductive Inks Conference. The conference was held Oct. 17-18 at The Drake Hotel in Oak Brook, IL, in conjunction with the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers’ (NAPIM) annual NPIRI Technical Conference. It was co-sponsored by NAPIM and Rodman Media, publishers of Ink World Magazine and Printed Electronics Now.
The closing session was moderated by John Copeland, NAPIM’s executive director, moderated the session, which led off with Bill Babe, sales and marketing manager, Liquid X Printed Metals, who covered “Particle-Free Inks: Enabling Next Gen Printed Electronics Directly on Textiles.”
Babe noted that Liquid X’s functional inks are particle-free, which is ideal for inkjet printing as it does not clog printheads, and provides uniform coating and smooth film traces.
“We are getting there on E-textiles,” Babe noted. “You don’t feel our ink on the fabric, and we are keeping conductivity through 100 wash cycles.”
Liquid X is working on a number of E-textile applications, including a prototype of a compression sleeve with ECG testing for a customer, and diabetes sensors with Bonbouton.
“It has to be viable from a commercial perspective,” Babe noted. “We have apps in health and wellness monitoring, user comfort, fashion and defense, as well as passive RFID tracking, energy harvesting and storage (printed batteries), command controls and printed circuits for connectivity.”
George Fuchs, NAPIM’s director of regulatory affairs and technology, provided insights into the regulatory environment in his talk on “Nanotechnology: EHS Considerations for Manufacturing and Usage.”
“We are now hearing that nanoplastic particles can transfer from the blood brain battery; the only other material we know about is lead,” he said. “We are more concerned about regulatory standards from OSHA and FDA. There is no global harmonization; it can be regulated differently in the US, EU and China.”
Fuchs pointed out that the EPA under TSCA published a mandatory reporting requirement by August 2018, while ECHA in the EU has a deadline of January 2020. “They are concerned about various environmental and health and safety impacts. The public is tremendously risk averse, even about infinitessimal exposure levels,” he added. “Exposure routes can be oral, dermal or inhalation. However, the FDA does not make a categorical judgment that nanotechnology is inherently safe or harmful.”
Dene H. Taylor, Ph.D., president of SPF-Inc., discussed his latest breakthroughs in his talk, “Easy, Fast and Functional! Metallograph® Pure Metal Conductive Printing.”
Metallograph is manufactured by IIMAK, with SPF-Inc as the distributor. Metallograph offers the same values as digital – print-on-demand, very quick changeover, and can print serial numbers on them.
“Metallograph is continuous metal transfer technology, and provides high productivity with very good yields for very low capital investment,” Dr. Taylor reported. “We’ve proven Metallograph. The metal is continuous sputter coated on ribbon to a controlled thickness. The digital printers are off the shelf.”
Dr. Taylor discussed important markets for Metallograph, beginning with RFID, its new chipless RFID and partnership with AstroNova QuickLabel.
“Rain RFID is a proven market, especially when paper, not plastic, is requested,” Dr. Taylor noted. “Interior auto components, low voltage electrical flexible heaters, sensor boxes and LED mounts are some of the other proven uses.”
“In chipless RFID, items are passively connected,” he said. “Chips can be flip-chip or direct die attached with million-dollar machines, or can be assembled inside the package by the printer. We have the ability mount chips; QuickLabel has the ability to put multiple layers down.”
“QuickLabel will be the first narrow web, full system provider to the flexible electronics industry. It brings together the necessary elements of devices, inks, substrates, print quality, ribbon saver, and application expertise,” Taylor said.
I closed the conference with my talk on “Conductive and Electronic Inks – Driving the Flexible Electronics Revolution.” As editor of Ink World and Printed Electronics Now, I have seen a wide range of applications come up over the years, some succeeding (RFID, glucose sensors) while others falling by the way-side (organic photovoltaics, eReaders).
The future does look bright, as smart packaging, RFID, sensors and wearables for automotive and healthcare and more, are quickly reaching commercialization. With these gains, the market for conductive inks will also move ahead.
“As flexible and printed electronics grows, the need for conductive inks will expand as well,” I concluded.
Next year’s Electronic and Conductive Ink Conference will return to the Drake Hotel in Oak Brook, IL on Oct. 15-16, 2020. For more information, see www.printedelectronicink.com.
These were some of the key takeaways during the Electronic and Conductive Inks Conference. The conference was held Oct. 17-18 at The Drake Hotel in Oak Brook, IL, in conjunction with the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers’ (NAPIM) annual NPIRI Technical Conference. It was co-sponsored by NAPIM and Rodman Media, publishers of Ink World Magazine and Printed Electronics Now.
The closing session was moderated by John Copeland, NAPIM’s executive director, moderated the session, which led off with Bill Babe, sales and marketing manager, Liquid X Printed Metals, who covered “Particle-Free Inks: Enabling Next Gen Printed Electronics Directly on Textiles.”
Babe noted that Liquid X’s functional inks are particle-free, which is ideal for inkjet printing as it does not clog printheads, and provides uniform coating and smooth film traces.
“We are getting there on E-textiles,” Babe noted. “You don’t feel our ink on the fabric, and we are keeping conductivity through 100 wash cycles.”
Liquid X is working on a number of E-textile applications, including a prototype of a compression sleeve with ECG testing for a customer, and diabetes sensors with Bonbouton.
“It has to be viable from a commercial perspective,” Babe noted. “We have apps in health and wellness monitoring, user comfort, fashion and defense, as well as passive RFID tracking, energy harvesting and storage (printed batteries), command controls and printed circuits for connectivity.”
George Fuchs, NAPIM’s director of regulatory affairs and technology, provided insights into the regulatory environment in his talk on “Nanotechnology: EHS Considerations for Manufacturing and Usage.”
“We are now hearing that nanoplastic particles can transfer from the blood brain battery; the only other material we know about is lead,” he said. “We are more concerned about regulatory standards from OSHA and FDA. There is no global harmonization; it can be regulated differently in the US, EU and China.”
Fuchs pointed out that the EPA under TSCA published a mandatory reporting requirement by August 2018, while ECHA in the EU has a deadline of January 2020. “They are concerned about various environmental and health and safety impacts. The public is tremendously risk averse, even about infinitessimal exposure levels,” he added. “Exposure routes can be oral, dermal or inhalation. However, the FDA does not make a categorical judgment that nanotechnology is inherently safe or harmful.”
Dene H. Taylor, Ph.D., president of SPF-Inc., discussed his latest breakthroughs in his talk, “Easy, Fast and Functional! Metallograph® Pure Metal Conductive Printing.”
Metallograph is manufactured by IIMAK, with SPF-Inc as the distributor. Metallograph offers the same values as digital – print-on-demand, very quick changeover, and can print serial numbers on them.
“Metallograph is continuous metal transfer technology, and provides high productivity with very good yields for very low capital investment,” Dr. Taylor reported. “We’ve proven Metallograph. The metal is continuous sputter coated on ribbon to a controlled thickness. The digital printers are off the shelf.”
Dr. Taylor discussed important markets for Metallograph, beginning with RFID, its new chipless RFID and partnership with AstroNova QuickLabel.
“Rain RFID is a proven market, especially when paper, not plastic, is requested,” Dr. Taylor noted. “Interior auto components, low voltage electrical flexible heaters, sensor boxes and LED mounts are some of the other proven uses.”
“In chipless RFID, items are passively connected,” he said. “Chips can be flip-chip or direct die attached with million-dollar machines, or can be assembled inside the package by the printer. We have the ability mount chips; QuickLabel has the ability to put multiple layers down.”
“QuickLabel will be the first narrow web, full system provider to the flexible electronics industry. It brings together the necessary elements of devices, inks, substrates, print quality, ribbon saver, and application expertise,” Taylor said.
I closed the conference with my talk on “Conductive and Electronic Inks – Driving the Flexible Electronics Revolution.” As editor of Ink World and Printed Electronics Now, I have seen a wide range of applications come up over the years, some succeeding (RFID, glucose sensors) while others falling by the way-side (organic photovoltaics, eReaders).
The future does look bright, as smart packaging, RFID, sensors and wearables for automotive and healthcare and more, are quickly reaching commercialization. With these gains, the market for conductive inks will also move ahead.
“As flexible and printed electronics grows, the need for conductive inks will expand as well,” I concluded.
Next year’s Electronic and Conductive Ink Conference will return to the Drake Hotel in Oak Brook, IL on Oct. 15-16, 2020. For more information, see www.printedelectronicink.com.
