A printing assembly for digital printing on a continuous metal strip, including: a digital printing unit having a printing area and a conveyor belt arranged for advancing the continuous metal strip in a longitudinal direction through the printing area, an inlet guide unit located upstream of the printing unit and configured to guide the continuous metal strip along a path comprising at least one first movable bend which is freely movable in the longitudinal direction, and an outlet guide unit located downstream of the digital printing unit and configured to guide the continuous metal strip along a path comprising at least one second movable bend which is freely movable in the longitudinal direction.

A system and method for printing patterns on a substrate, including a substrate; a powder; a sealing coating; and a UV curable paint; wherein the powder, the sealing coating and the UV curable paint are deposited onto the substrate and heated and cured. The method is designed to make the substrate have a faux appearance with lower costs than manufacturing the real substrate it was meant to look like.

A coiled metal substrate with a faux galvanized surface appearance. The faux galvanized surface of the substrate including a spangle print pattern of polyvinylidene fluoride (PFDV) flexographically applied to the metal substrate. Atop the PFDV print pattern is semi-transparent coating of fluoroethylene vinyl ether (FEVE) flexographically applied atop the spangle print pattern of PFDV.

A method of forming a metallic pattern on a substrate is provided. The method includes applying onto a metallic surface, a chemically surface-activating solution having an activating agent that chemically activates the metallic surface; non-impact printing an etch-resist ink on the activated surface to produce an etch resist mask according to a predetermined pattern, wherein at least one ink component within the etch-resist ink undergoes a chemical reaction with the activated metallic surface to immobilize droplets of the etch-resist ink when hitting the activated surface; performing an etching process to remove unmasked metallic portions that are not covered with the etch resist mask; and removing the etch-resist mask.

A laser panel, a laser array device, and a laser display. The laser panel and the laser array device separately comprise multiple groups of independent laser light source modules; each group of laser light source modules comprises plural light sources; the plural light sources are all produced by inkjet printing; the laser display and a voltage-driven laser display separately comprise the laser panel. Producing a laser panel by inkjet printing provides a novel technical solution for cheap and industrial manufacturing of laser panels. It is difficult to generate laser coherent superposition between the light emitted by the laser light source module, and therefore, speckles caused by laser coherence in conventional laser display technologies are greatly eliminated. The present invention achieves a voltage-driven laser display, and facilitates achieving a better display effect while reducing the volume of the display.

An apparatus and methods of decorating a metallic container are provided. More specifically, the present invention relates to apparatus and methods used to provide a decoration or indicia on a predetermined portion of an outer surface of a metallic container body. The decorator includes at least one digital print unit, a transfer blanket, and a support element. The digital print unit transfers a decorating material to the transfer blanket to form a decoration on the transfer blanket. The support element then moves a metallic container into contact with the transfer blanket. In this manner, the decorating material is transferred to an exterior surface portion of the metallic container to decorate the metallic container. In one embodiment, the digital print unit is an electrophotographic system which transfers a toner material to the transfer blanket. In another embodiment, the digital print unit includes an inkjet print head which transfers an ink to the transfer blanket. Optionally, the decorator may include two or more support elements.

An aqueous polyurethane resin dispersion includes a cationic group and a polyalkylene oxide in a side chain thereof. The polyurethane resin is obtainable by reacting a polyester polyol, a polyether diol, a polyol containing a quaternary N-atom or tertiary amino group, and a polyisocyanate. The polyester polyol is obtained by reacting an aromatic polycarboxylic acid and a polyol. The polyurethane resin is suitable as a resin in treatment liquids of substrates and images made by inkjet printing.

The present invention relates to a process for making an etched pattern comprising a step of depositing onto a printable metal surface droplets of an ink composition provided by a printing method, wherein the ink composition comprises a first ink vehicle being water, a second ink vehicle being an organic compound and an etchant being an acid or abase according to the Brnsted definition, characterized in that the ink composition has a pH in the range of from (0) to (4) or from (9) to (14). The invention further relates to substrates having a metal surface with an etched pattern, to the use of such substrates in various applications, to articles comprising the inventive substrate and to the use of the inventive process for the production of metal products.

An ink set includes a water-based coloring ink and a water-based coating liquid having an acting of aggregating the water-based coloring ink, wherein a dynamic surface tension value at 25 C. at a surface life of 100 ms of the water-based coating liquid is smaller than a dynamic surface tension value at 25 C. at a surface life of 100 ms of the water-based coloring ink, a difference between the dynamic surface tension value at 25 C. at a surface life of 100 ms of the water-based coating liquid and the dynamic surface tension value at 25 C. at a surface life of 100 ms of the water-based coloring ink is 5 mN/m or more and 20 mN/m or less, and the dynamic surface tension value at 25 C. at a surface life of 100 ms of the water-based coating liquid is within a range of 20 to 30 mN/m.

A method for creating colorful patterns on a metal surface by using colorless ink is revealed. First carry out a first anodizing process on a metal substrate to form a first anodic oxide layer on a surface of the metal substrate. Then coat a layer of colorless ink on the first anodic oxide layer on the surface of the metal substrate to form a colorless ink pattern mask. Later perform a second anodizing process to form a second anodic oxide layer on a part of the metal substrate without being covered with the colorless ink pattern mask. Next remove the colorless ink pattern mask and coat a metal film over the first anodic oxide layer and the second anodic oxide layer to get a colorful pattern on the metal substrate.