Marabu specializes in organic inks for glass - a highly effective and energy-efficient alternative to ceramic enamels. Our ink systems score highly on adhesion and come in a variety of colours and special effects - plus they are scratch-resistant, dishwasher-safe and free of heavy metals. When mixing colours, another key benefit comes to the fore: reproducing your corporate colours is much easier with organic inks.
INLINE FOILING® is a recent innovation and a genuine alternative to traditional finishing processes. After a high-gloss foil is transferred to container glass,various top coats can be applied by UV screen printing. The result is reflective metallic finishes in exceptionally vibrant colours. This method makes it possible to mimic gleaming metal, the surface of water, or reflections created by glass.
The Ultra Glass UVGL ink range’s two-component system is versatile and gives rise to strong tactile effects. Designs are pre-applied to container or flat glass by screen printing, then exactly overprinted with a thick-film coating and cured with UV light.
The ratio between the two components can be tailored to the specific needs of the design (e.g. 50:50, 70:30, 60:40), giving customers all the flexibility they require.
Digital printing is clearly gaining traction in the manufacturing sector, with applications including the decoration of beverage bottles. In future, it will be possible to print up to 36,000 bottles per hour using an in-line method, with a different design on each bottle (e.g. in various languages, with modifications to the design, or with sequential numbering).
Other applications are found in the advertising materials industry (e.g. container glass) and interior design (e.g. kitchens and furniture). Flexible digital printing offers manufacturers unlimited possibilities, and supports the adoption of new, innovative technologies.
Marabu offers UV-curable and solvent-based inks for printing on glass touchscreens and touchpads. Moreover, we´ve developed an ink for printing on second surfaces – primarily employed for outdoor applications, including i.e cityligt systems (e.g. at airports).
To achieve high-gloss gold and silver effects, the glass industry generally employs ceramic inks. These are expensive to purchase, and the firing process is energy-intensive and therefore costly. The attractive alternative: hot stamping with UV inks.
The required image or text is screen-printed onto the glass surface with UltraGlass UVGL primer, serving as a type of cliche for the hot foil. The foil is transferred onto the pre-printed ink film, either through roll-on stamping or vertical stamping – the foil only adheres to the areas that were primed with UVGL. The result is a high-gloss gold and silver finish at a much lower price.
Flatbed printers can be employed to custom-decorate container and flat glass. Industrial-scale applications, in particular, benefit from second-surface printing – for example in the manufacture of input devices. In this context, there is a growing trend to combine screen and digital printing. The advantages include significant time savings in print preparation, a reduction in process steps, far lower consumption of materials such as screens, greater flexibility, and customisation in the printing process.
Mara® Shield liquid coatings can be leveraged to prime, finish or protect high-quality digital prints. In the case of Mara® Shield UV-CGL inks, they can be harnessed for roller-coating large areas of glass. A broad choice of colours creates opportunities to match customer’s desired shades from Pantone, RAL, HKS and other colour systems – making these inks particularly interesting for kitchen and furniture component suppliers.
Additionally, the new Special Primer P4 significantly improves adhesion of UV-curable colours on glass (for screen as well as digital printing). This can be applied manually or by means of a spray system. Depending on the ink, it is also possible to deliver greater adhesion on metal and plastic substrates.
Liquid adhesion promoter for the pretreatment of various materials in order to improve the adhesion properties between the material and the printing layer to be applied.