Printable Electronics Inks

Printable Electronic Inks

Conductive, Resistive, Dielectric and Electrode Inks

AVAILABLE DIRECTLY AT CAPLINQ.COM

Assembly Film Adhesives Electrically Conductive Adhesives Non Conductive Adhesives Printable Electronics Inks

Henkel Printable Inks

Product	Description	Viscosity (mPAs)	Density (g/cm³)	Cure Type	Cure Schedule	Process	Substrates	Application
ECI 1006	Highly conductive silver ink for touch screen applications	57,000	2.6	Heat	10min @130°C	Screen print	ITO, PET	ITO film, Membrane switches, Digitizers, Flexible circuits and Electroluminescent lamps
ECI 1010	Highly conductive silver ink with high flexibility	9,000	2.1	Heat	15min @120°C	Screen print and Flexographic	PET films	Smartcard, flexible circuits, PCB, switches, RFID
ECI 1011	Highly conductive silver ink for thinner lines	2,800	3	Heat	10min @150°C	Screen print and Flexographic	Paper, PET	Smartcard, Flexible switches, RFID
ECI 7004	screen printable, high resistance carbon solvent-based ink	10,000	1.1	Heat	10 minutes @ 120°C	Screen print	Treated polyester, Polyimide	Force sensitive modules, Printed resistors and Sensing devices
ECI 8001	Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) screen printable conductive ink	6,500	1.0	Heat	10 minutes @ 120°C	Screen print	PET, PEN, PI	Self regulating heating elements
EDAG 461SS	Extremely flexible polyester resin with a butyl cellosolve acetate	17,000	-	Heat	15min @93°C	Screen print	-	ITO coated films, membrane switches, digitizers, flexible circuits
EDAG 479SS	Halogen-free conductive ink with good flexibility	20,000	2.56	Heat	15min @93°C	Screen print	PET , PEN, PI	Membrane switches and Flexible circuitry display devices
EDAG 7019	flexible conductive ink with low electrical resistance and long screen residence time	14,000	-	Heat	10min @107°C	-	-	-
EDAG 725A(6S54)	Conductive ink that requires no thinning	12,500	2.14	Heat	15min @120°C	-	PET films	Membrane keyboards, membrane touch switches
EDAG 965SS	Very finely divided graphite particles dispersed in a thermoplastic resin	32,500	-	Heat	15min @120	Screen print	Polyester	Membrane switches, keyboards, protection from ESD
EDAG PF 407A	Carbon filled ink for contact areas	35,000	1.12	Heat	30min @90°C	Stencil print	PET, Polyimide, Paper, Carboard	Resistors, Membrane switches, heating elements
EDAG PF 407C	Thick polyester film for low voltage circuitry	42,500	1.1	Heat	15min @120°C	Screen print	Polyester, Polyimide, Polycarbonate, Paper, Cardboard	Printed resistors, membrane touch switches, heating elements, flexible circuits and protection from ESD
EDAG PF 410	-	17,500	-	Heat	15min @120°C	Screen print	Polyester	manual, semi automatic, high speed reel to reel screen printing
EDAG PM 406V1	Highly conductive and solids content inks	21,600	3	Heat	15min @120°C	Screen print	PET, Paper, PVC	Printed circuitry, RFID, conductive circuits
EDAG PF 455B	UV curable acrylate and excellent adhesion	13,500	1,02	UV	120Watt/cm	-	-	Printed circuitry, conductive circuits
EDAG PF 455BC	Translucent UV curable acrylate	13,500	1,02	UV	120Watt/cm	-	-	Printed circuitry, conductive circuits
NCI 7002	screen printable ink that is specifically designed for blending with LOCTITE ECI 7004HR E&C	10,000 - 25,000	1.27	Heat	5 to 10 minutes @ 120°C	Screen print	Treated polyester and Polyimide	Printed resistors, Sensing devices, Heating elements, Protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD)

JNC Printable Inks

Product	Description	Viscosity (mPAs)	Volume resistivity (Ω*cm)	Cure Type	Cure Schedule	CTE	TG(℃)	Application
PI-6643-004	High-heat insulating polyimide ink	12	1E+16	Heat	30min @350°C	60	395	Aerospace Engineering, Electronics manufacturing, High temperature sensors
PI-6302-004	Low-temperature cured insulating polyimide ink	6	1E+16	Heat	30min @230°C	65	255	Electronics Manufacturing, Consumer Electronics, Sensors and IoT Devices
PI-6322-001	Polyimide insulating ink designed to provide thermally curable solution to heat resistance and electrical insulation	11	1E+16	Heat	120min @180°C	75	250	Aerospace and Defense, Electronics Manufacturing, Industrial Sensors
PI-6673-002	Low-temperature cured insulating polyimide ink specially designed to meet the demands of high thermal applications	9	2E+16	Heat	60min @175°C	146	140	Electronics Manufacturing, Consumer Electronics, Sensors and IoT Devices
PA-1210-020	UV-curable, solvent-free polyacrylate insulating ink	23	1E+16	UV	2,000mJ/cm²@ 365nm	55	116	Electronics Manufacturing, Optoelectronics, Microelectronics
PA-1210-034	UV-curable, solvent-free polyacrylate insulating ink with high reliability	35	1E+15	UV	2,000mJ/cm²@ 365nm	91	136	Fine Pitch Electronics, Microfabrication, Advance Sensors
PA-1210-035	UV-curable, solvent-free polyacrylate insulating ink, with a perfect balance between flexibility and durability	36	6E+16	UV	2,000mJ/cm²@ 365nm	76	126	Thin Film Electronics, Microfabrication, Optical Devices
PA-1510-003	UV-curable, solvent-free polyacrylate process material with its advanced polyacrylate technology	5.4	-	UV	-	-	124	Microelectronics Mechanical Systems (MEMS), Assembly Line Component Protection
PA-1510-005	UV-curable, solvent-free polyacrylate process material	4.4	-	UV	-	-	135	Microelectronics Mechanical Systems (MEMS), Assembly Line Component Protection

Can I really make a printed antenna?

Yes. An antenna is an electrical device which converts radio waves in an AC current and vice versa. Therefore an antenna needs to be conductive. Our silver inks in combination with dielectric inks (crossovers) can be used for printing HF, UHF and other antennae for RFID cards and labels.

The same conductive materials can be used for printing automotive, telephone and other antennae.

How do formable inks work?

The electronic circuitry is printed onto the flat substrate in one or multiple layers by screen printing and then components are mounted on the printed substrate. Afterwards, the flat substrate is thermoformed by either vacuum thermoforming or mechanical thermoforming creating the circuit form.

Then injection molding is used to put the plastic in place and result in the final product. Injection molding is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting plastic into a mold.

What are the benefits of using printed insulating inks?

Printed insulating inks offer advantages like simplified manufacturing processes, reduced material waste, and the ability to create intricate designs. They also provide a cost-effective way to isolate different circuit elements without the need for traditional insulating materials like tapes or films.

Can printed insulating inks replace traditional insulation methods?

Printed insulating inks offer an alternative to traditional insulation methods like tapes and films, especially for applications where space constraints or intricate designs are important. However, the choice between methods depends on the specific requirements of the application. It is difficult to build up multiple layers or thicker films with PI ink. If you want to laminate in multiple layers, you can use PA ink and laminate with UV pinning. PA ink is traditionally inferior to PI ink in terms of heat resistance, so whether or not the required properties are met will determine whether or not PA ink can be used for your application.

Which substrates are compatible with printed insulating inks?

Printed insulating inks can be applied to a variety of substrates, including rigid and flexible circuit boards, glass, ceramics, and even certain types of plastics. The compatibility depends on the specific ink formulation and the substrate's surface properties.

What is the amount of cleaner usage is recommended on printable inks?

The rule of thumb is 3x the volume of the PI or PA printable ink

What is the Shelf life and Opened bottle pot life of JNC printable materials?

Before opening, the product is basically guaranteed for 6 months after shipping which have exceptions depending on the grade. Once the product has been opened, JNC does not guarantee its quality.

Process and Application methods

There are various ways to apply printable inks. The main ones are:

Rotogravure printing
Flexographic printing
Screen printing
Dispenser printing
Inkjet printing
Aerosol jet and spray printing

They all come with their pros and cons and usually these are in terms of design flexibility, printing speed, quality, thickness and cost.

The advantage of screen printing is the ability to apply thick layers (5-25 µm) when compared to rotogravure or flexographic processes that can apply 1-2um in one print pass. On the other hand flat bed screen printing is much slower than flexography or rotogravure. So it all comes down to your needs to strike a perfect balance. There is also stencil printing but that is a more "simplistic" solution for dots and lines and won\'t be discussed here.

Rotogravure printing

Flexographic and Rotogravure printing are high speed printing processes using Anilox or Gravure rolls to control the amount of applied ink.

Rotogravure works on the principle of vacuum printing. There is a metal hole with the required image on it which passes through an inkpad. A doctor blade scrapes the ink from the roll\'s surface and just leaves the ink in the metal image. This ink image is then pressed against the substrate and the impression cylinder creating the final printed result.

As we will explain later, rotographic printing is a direct and really stiff (not flexible) process. In order to change the design you need to spend a significant amount of money to adjust your equipment. Having said that, this type of printing, even though non flexible, admittedly prints much better than the flexographic process. It is recommended for "standard" designs when you know you will have a specific design that will not need to change often.

Flexographic printing

The principle of flexographic printing is almost similar. The fount roll is dipped in an ink pan. This roll touches an Anilox roll that doesn\'t contain the image yet but is mostly used as a "clean" ink transfer. A doctor blade scrapes the excess ink from the roll preparing it for the next step. The entire Anilox roll has ink that is being transferred to an engraved rubber sleeve mounted on a plate cylinder. Now you have the clean "inked" image ready to be pressed on the substrate. The final step is identical with rotography. The cylinder connects with the impression cylinder, pressing the substrate in between and leaving the image on top of it.

Rotogravure printing is a direct process while flexographic is an indirect process with the plate cylinder in between. The advantage of the flexo process is that it is a much, much cheaper option for single prints since you only need to create a rubber sleeve with the image and not remake the entire plate roll. The cost of making a rubber sleeve is almost 20-30 times lower than having to make a metal roll/mold from scratch, as you would for the Rotogravure process.

Screen printing

Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an inkblocking stencil. A squeegee is moved across the screen stencil forcing the ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas. For screen printing you use this mesh acting like a driver between the paste and the substrate. After applying pressure with the squeegee the air pressure will press out the ink from the open area and onto the substrate to imprint the circuit.

Do not confuse Screen and Stencil printing. Stencil printing would be an option if you only wanted to print dots and small lines but not for a whole circuit. Typically metal stencils don\'t need a distance from the substrate and have a different operational "logic" even though they look and sound similar.

Dispenser printing

In dispenser printing, an ink nozzle continuously sprays ink slurries onto a substrate under pneumatic pressure. The substrate is moved by an x-y stage, typically under computer control, to create the desired design topology. Conformal writing with feature sizes as small as 250 nm can be accomplished by adjusting the ink rheology, stage movement speed, and distance between nozzle and substrate. Moreover, dispenser printing is capable of printing very thick films up to 200 µm.

printed electronics dispensing printing

Inkjet printing

Inkjet printing is a derivative of dispenser printing where ink drops exit the nozzle by a dynamic process. Inkjet printing is generally categorized into the continuous inkjet and the drop-on-demand (DoD) method. Due to its material relevance for thermoelectric device fabrication, we will primarily focus on DoD printing. By controlling the contraction expansion of the piezoelectric actuator, individual ink droplets can be jetted out from the nozzle forming the desired pattern on the substrate. The printed pattern can be easily modifed by changing the digital file that controls the actuator. The printability depends on the nozzle radius and viscosity, density and surface tension of the ink.

Schematic diagram of a continuous inkjet printer. | Download Scientific Diagram

Aerosol jet and Spray Printing

Aerosol jet printing is another popular method for printable electronics. In this method, an atomizer aerosolizes the ink into liquid particles of size ranging from 20 nm to 5 mm. Inert gas or compressed airfow is used to transfer the ink particle to the substrate. The main advantage of spray printing is the higher allowable distance between print head and substrate making it possible to print on non-flat and non smooth substrates. The achievable resolution is higher than inkjet printing. However, edge sharpness in lower and localized crystallization caused by the sheath gas can detrimentally affect the bonding layer quality.

Drying and Curing

Proper drying and curing is very important to obtain the required coating performance. Drying refers to the solvent evaporation while curing refers to the active binders and resins that crosslink. While printing is a very important part of the process, drying is as important.

Products are applied wet onto the substrate
The drying/curing process removes the solvent from the coating and drives the crosslinking of the resin matrix (thermosetting systems)
Coating shrinks and interparticle contacts generate the functionality (conductivity)

Solvent needs to be "removed" from the initial layer during the drying step, something that will cause a shrinkage of ~50-70% of the thickness and result in inter-particle contacts that will give the final functionality and conductivity of the coating.

solvent drying for printed electronics

There are multiple solvents that can be used that depend on the processes and how fast or slow we want to the product to dry. For example for the fast drying solvents of flexo/gravure printable inks, solvents can be propyl acetates while for screen printing where we need a proper "open" screen time and slower drying, "solvents" used are carbitol acetate, butyl glycol acetate and such.

It is crucial to notice that "dry" to touch does not mean cured. You should make sure that you follow the instructions on the technical sheets in order to achieve the final properties and keep in mind that drying below 60°C (at least for screen printable inks) is not possible.

The drying mechanism is different when a product is UV curable since there\'s no solvent involved and the drying/curing process does not exist in the same sense. UV curable inks are a blend of monomers and oligomers that react together when exposed to UV light. In this case there\'s hardly any shrinkage or weight loss and exposure to UV light "just" propagates or polymerises the film, resulting in the final properties.

printed electronics drying mechanisms