The Mimaki LUS-350 ink is suitable for a range of thermoforming applications and is compatible with the 710mm-wide Mimaki UJF-7151plus and 2.5m-wide JFX200-2513 printers. It will be available in cyan, magenta, yellow and black, as well as white and as a clear ink.

Hybrid’s national sales manager Stuart Cole said: “The ink is an advance on the ink sets we have around our other UV printers. We’ve got hard inks, we’ve got semi-flexible inks and we’ve got 200% thermoformable inks. This is a further extension to give the customer a more stretchy ink to go deeper in thermoforming applications.”

The new ink technology enables thermoformed objects to be imaged before forming, using Mimaki digital printers, which the manufacturer said run inks that will not crack or get damaged during the forming process.

Cole expects the new inks to eventually be rolled out to more machines than just the UJF-7151plus and JFX200-2513 and believes there is a broad market for them.

“Obviously thermoforming is in its own market and sector, so I wouldn’t want to pigeonhole anybody, but it is really wherever the application appeals. The ink is thermoformable with a great deal of stretch but if the benefit of the ink is worthwhile to others it may make an inroad into deeper vinyls, like vehicle wrapping,” added Cole.

According to Mimaki, the ink will stretch up to 350% when heated to between 120°C and 200°C. After cooling to room temperature, its rigidity is restored and it adheres to the moulded product without cracking or peeling. This is the most stretchy ink provided by Mimaki, with the most recent inks brought out being the LUS 150, LUS 200 and LUS 120 inks. The 150 and 200 cost £135 a litre, and the 120 costs £80 a litre.

Cole said: “The more flexibility of the ink, the more flexibility you have in the application. It’s one of those things where you ask what people want from an ink and one aspect they say is flexibility. It is another string in the bow so to speak.”

At Fespa Digital last month, Mimaki launched its new 3.2m-wide LED UV inkjet printer, the UJV55-320. This is a roll-to-roll inkjet, which runs at up to 110sqm/hr at a resolution of up to 1,200dpi.