Christian Doppler Laboratory for Functional and Polymer Based Ink-Jet Inks

The Christian Doppler Laboratory (CDL) for Functional and Polymer Based Ink-jet Inks was founded in January 2012 by the Chair of Chemistry of Polymeric Materials (University of Leoben, Austria), together with the DURST Phototechnik DIT GmbH (Lienz, Austria) as industry partner. The research program of the CDL aims at novel concepts for UV curable ink-jet inks, with a strong focus on non-toxic and eco-friendly materials. These new ink-jet inks enable advanced applications in the fields of optics and bio-medicine. For that purpose, alternative radical based curing reactions are explored on a fundamental level to substitute the precarious (meth)acrylate monomers/oligomers in ink formulations. In collaboration with the industry partner DURST, these novel monomers are explored for the realization of conventional ink-jet inks, which are food-proof and can thus be used for the printing on food packaging materials and labels, and also for ink-jet printing on textiles and garments.