New Aqueous Inkjet Printhead from Xaar

Xaar has launched a new printhead called the Xaar Aquinox, delivering reliability, creativity, and sustainability for printing aqueous fluids.

The Aquinox is the latest development from Xaar’s ImagineX platform; the company says the aQ Power Technology provides a radically new approach to how water-based fluids are jetted reliably, delivering a transformational industrial printhead.

Xaar’s aQ Power is designed to optimise the Aquinox’s lifespan and robustness when handling aqueous fluids. These include a redesigned internal architecture, new water-compatible materials capable of coping with an extended working range of pH levels, and a new drive system enabling optimum drop ejection. This, together with Xaar’s TF Technology ink recirculation, ensures the Aquinox delivers significantly increased nozzle open time compared to typical aqueous printheads. Xaar says the improved nozzle open time and latency will also reduce maintenance and ink waste, helping to minimise the total cost of ownership.

The company says that water-based inkjet printing is more effective and versatile due to the Aquinox’s unique technologies, exceptional print speeds and compatibility with multiple aqueous fluid types. Speeds of over 100m/min can be achieved, and a high native resolution of 720dpi and firing frequency of up to 48kHz, enables high fluid laydown with maximum productivity. And with Xaar’s High Laydown Technology, the drop size capability is extended, making the Aquinox ideal for printing textiles, highly absorbent substrates, or thick film coatings.

Xaar’s Ultra High Viscosity Technology gives the Aquinox the capability of jetting fluid viscosities of up to 100cP. By enabling a wider colour gamut and fluids with larger particles and more pigment for higher opacity, colours are more vibrant and whites and blacks stronger.

“The introduction of the Xaar Aquinox, powered by our ImagineX platform, is our most significant product launch in recent years.

“The Aquinox demonstrates our commitment to driving the future of inkjet into new and ever more sustainable applications, and we are proud of this revolutionary transformation in aqueous inkjet printing,” says John Mills, CEO of Xaar.

The Aquinox comes with a development kit that gives OEMs everything they need to get up and running. This includes the ink supply system and printhead drive electronics.

Having collaborated with leading developers and manufacturers of aqueous inkjet inks to rigorously assess and improve performance, the Xaar Aquinox is equally capable of handling dye-based and pigmented fluids and inks, across a wide range of applications.

“From textiles to ceramics and packaging, we see the Xaar Aquinox breaking new ground, enabling new water-based print applications, many of which were previously not possible with inkjet,” concluded Mills.