India’s largest multinational flexible packaging materials and solution company Uflex Limited has launched a special polyester film, F-PDP with modified surface on one side while the other side remaining untreated. This film is digitally printable without any need for priming or coating. The film can be directly printed without requiring printing plates or cylinders as in the case of conventional printing process. Additionally the film demonstrates good transparency; optical clarity; excellent machinability and dimensional stability besides offering excellent flatness and agile handling properties.

The polyester (PET) film F-PDP has been certified by Rochester Institute of Technology for digital printing by HP Indigo commercial and sheet fed presses. There are a multitude of benefits associated with digitally printable PET films:

• Suitable for small run jobs particularly for new launch or re-launch of products;
• Minimizes lead time at the converter’s end because no primer/ coating is required;
• Gives excellent print results with high quality resolution for pictures and half-tone jobs using primary colors i.e. CMYK and White giving results at par with conventional printing even on transparent substrates;
• Option of special colors like Gold, Silver etc. can further impart depth in printing;

JK Sharma, AGM, technical service and new product development (films), Uflex Limited, said, “Coating, priming or surface treatment of a film for enhancing its ink adhesion properties is a time consuming process needless to mention the additional costs that are involved. Our special F-PDP film is a perfect delight for convertors at a time when the entire world is moving towards Just in Time (JIT) deliveries minimizing inventories. Polyester film suitable for direct digital printing has been a need gap. Other inherent advantages of Polyester film like the ability to render excellent print results; being tear-proof and crack resistant make it a suitable and preferred media for digital printing. Additionally Polyester is able to withstand high temperatures and remains stable and inert to many chemicals further enhancing its suitability for convertors.”

Ashok Chaturvedi, chairman and managing director, Uflex Limited, said, “Digital Printing spells out immense convenience for convertors in terms of economized costs; suitability for shorter print runs; less set up time compared to offset printing and unmatched print consistency among others. I am happy that Uflex has engineered a special polyester substrate that is perfectly receptive for digital printing without requiring any priming, coating or special treatment.”