Kodak unveils the ink for its presses featuring Ultrastream continuous inkjet technology. Named after its legendary Kodachrome color slide film, this water-based ink enables much wider, more vivid color reproduction on a wide range of substrates.
The special feature of Kodachrome inks is that they contain very fine pigment particles, obtained by the American manufacturer's exclusive micro-milling process. Finer pigments mean shorter ink drying times and, above all, less light dispersion, deeper colors and a wider gamut.
Tested on the press Prosper Ultra 520 unveiled in June 2020 on a CMYK press, Kodachrome inks achieve a gamut 95% larger than the SWOP profile (dedicated to web offset) and 39% larger than GRACoL (for sheetfed offset), says Kodak. This press, with a web width of up to 533 mm and a production speed of 150 m/min at high quality, and Kodachrome inks, can achieve a resolution of 600 x 1,800 dpi, and thus an output quality equivalent to a 200 lpi screen.
Combined with Kodak primers, Kodachrome inks are compatible with "virtually any substrate" paper, plastic, film and other substrates.
And with no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or phthalates, they're safe for people and the environment.
"Kodachrome inks, combined with our high-speed Ultrastream inkjet technology and optimizers, create efficient digital solutions for cost-effective printing of a wide range of applications, said Jim Continenza, Executive Chairman and CEO of Kodak. This enables customers to switch more work from traditional printing such as offset to digital, opening up new sales and profit opportunities."
