Abstract
As a mature additive process, printing has long been attractive in
manufacturing environments that extend well beyond traditional graphics.
Conductive inks, for example, revolutionized the manufacturing of consumer
electronics in the 1970s enabling low-cost circuit boards and membrane
switches. The arrival of inkjet printing, however, has added new dimensions to
this kind of functional printing. Inkjet offers finer features and the ability
to customize products in a way never before possible. And all at relatively
low costs. In the electronics industry, inkjet is seen as an effective way to
prototype devices before they go to the fab and inkjet is already providing
better economics in the display industry. Inkjet is also used to create
automotive components and appears to have a future in areas as diverse as
MEMS, biotechnology, photovoltaics and smart textiles.
The surge in interest in functional printing is creating interesting new
opportunities for ink makers. At the same time these opportunities are spread
over a large number of applications, so some are potential major revenue
generators, while others are no more than niches. This raises the question of
how ink makers and other materials suppliers can best capitalize on the growth
of functional printing in terms of the materials used in inks and the
performance characteristics of those inks. This report addresses this question
directly. It identifies and also quantifies these opportunities in functional
inkjet over the next eight years.
We believe that this new study will be of interest not just to materials
companies, but also to manufacturers of industrial inkjet equipment firms, and
to the developers of printed devices themselves. In addition to an analysis of
current trends and performance requirements, the report also provides an
eight-year forecast of functional inks for jetting machinery.
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