Print, mark, code on metal

Metal and aluminium printing with TIJ printers

Printing on metal is one of the oldest labelling applications (tin cans) in the industry and yet it is more more topical than ever. More and more producers are using metal or aluminium as a material or for packaging design for their expensive and high-quality products. material or for the packaging design. While quality tends to take a back seat to legibility when it comes to printing on metal cans, this is of course not the case for these newer applications. Nevertheless, the tried and tested Thermal Inkjet Technology (TIJ) is the appropriate solution here as well, because technical progress and new ink generations combine the usual reliability with high quality.

Thermal inkjet systems work according to the well-known inkjet principle, in which the ink is "thrown" onto the substrate without contact. This prevents smudging of the print and the surface itself is not scratched or damaged, which is especially important when printing on smooth surfaces like metal, tinplate or aluminium. Drying out of inks or clogging of the nozzles, as is the case with low usage in the home, hardly play a role in industry and commerce, as regular use takes place here. The positive features of this technology, such as robustness and economy, are all the more prominent.

Printing on metal usually takes place directly on the production line, rather rarely downstream in the warehouse or in shipping. As printing nowadays often replaces the former engraving and digitally processable elements (QR codes, data matrix codes) are also used more often, the print quality and of course also the durability of the print are of great importance. Serial numbers, model designations, codes and many other legally or organisationally important data can nowadays be reliably printed on metal with the modern TIJ systems.

With 30 years of experience, RED Jet offers a comprehensive range of TIJ marking systems for printing on metal or aluminium for a wide variety of applications.
With the RED TIJ, for example, 2 production lines can be processed independently of each other in parallel or combined printing tasks can be carried out on one production line, for example uninterrupted printing or simultaneous marking of 2 sides.