DuPont™ Tyvek® is a popular printing substrate due to its light weight, smooth surface, high dimensional stability, opacity, toughness and durability. Uncoated Tyvek® can be printed using most digital and commercial printing processes. Some digital presses and some aqueous ink jet printers require a special coating. Tyvek® can be printed either sheet or web-fed. Tyvek® can be printed the same way as paper, although some of its physical properties do require special attention. To achieve excellent print quality, both the designer and printer must understand the unique properties and characteristics of Tyvek®. Tyvek® is made of continuous high-density polyethylene filaments. By using heat and pressure, these filaments are bonded into a base material for printing which turns out to be neither paper, cloth nor plastic film, but it integrates the advantages of those three materials.
Tyvek® material has a melting point of 135°C and is a water-resistant and non-absorbent material with superior dimensional stability, high strength, and a smooth matt surface. Most traditional printing technologies can be used for Tyvek® printing, as well as some digital printing. The following Tyvek® printing quick reference guidelines have been summarized based on our current knowledge and the relevant contents will be updated continuously.
Printing methods |
Tyvek® 10 series |
Tyvek® 14 series |
|
Offset Lithographic Printing |
- Traditional sheet-fed offset printing - UV sheet-fed offset printing - UV web-fed offset printing |
Suitable |
Suitable |
Flexographic Printing |
- Water-based - Solvent - UV |
Suitable |
Suitable |
Rotogravure Printing |
- Water-based - Solvent - UV |
Suitable |
Suitable |
Screen printing |
|
Suitable |
Suitable |
With the growing demand for personalized and short lead time for orders, digital printing is used more frequently for the printing of Tyvek® brand materials, especially for the HP Indigo machine. Since the fusing temperatures of laser printers commonly seen on the market are much higher than the melting point of Tyvek®, they are not suitable for Tyvek® printing. However, the ProC7100X, 9100X machines of the Ricoh series have already been demonstrated for Tyvek® printing (such as the printing of Tyvek® 1082D certificates) because their fixing temperatures can be adjusted to suit Tyvek® materials.
Printing methods |
Tyvek® 10 series |
Tyvek® 14 series |
|
HP Indigo |
- Sheet-fed - Web-fed |
- Suitable - Suitable (refer to next table) |
- Unsuitable - Suitable (refer to next table) |
Laser printing |
- Conventional - Ricoh Pro C7100X and C9100X series |
- Unsuitable - Frequently used on 1082D but was not subject of authenticated tests of the equipment
|
- Unsuitable - Unsuitable |
Narrow web-fed label printing machine |
- Water-based ink-jet printing - UV/LED ink-jet printing |
- Unsuitable - Frequently used but was not subject of authenticated tests of the equipment |
- Unsuitable - Not used |
HP Indigo suitability
Tyvek® Styles |
HP Indigo web-fed (roll to roll) |
HP Indigo sheet-fed (only for one-shot technology) |
|||
20000 HP |
WS6xx0 |
WS4xx0 |
Indigo 7xxx |
HP Indigo 5xxx |
|
1025D |
Not tested |
Certified |
Certified |
Failed authentication |
|
1057D |
Not tested |
Certified |
Certified |
Not certified but frequently used for racing numbers |
|
1058D |
Not tested |
Certified |
Certified |
Not tested |
Not tested |
8740DL |
Not tested |
Certified |
Certified |
Certified |
Certified |
1073D |
Not tested |
Certified |
Certified |
Certified |
Certified |
1082D |
Profiled |
Certified |
Certified |
Certified |
Certified |
4158D |
Not tested |
Certified |
Certified |
Not tested |
Not tested |
4173D |
Not tested |
Certified |
Not tested |
Certified |
Certified |
1442R |
Profiled |
Profiled |
Not tested |
Unsuitable |
|
1473R |
Not tested |
Not tested |
Not tested |
Unsuitable |
Note : ‘failed authentication’ means that the authentication test was conducted but didn’t meet the evaluation requirements for testing result, which was likely due to the specifications of the materials exceeding the limits of the equipment.
HP Latex 3rd generation, Canon CrystalPoint™, and most UV/Inkjet presses are suitable for direct printing on Tyvek®. Water-based, solvent, and eco-solvent ink jet presses do not print with acceptable quality on Tyvek®.
Wide-format ink-jet printer |
Tyvek®
|
|
|
Water-based ink-jet printer |
Unsuitable (see note) |
|
|
(Eco) solvent ink-jet printer |
Unsuitable (see note) |
|
|
UV/LED ink-jet printer |
Suitable |
|
|
HP Latex inkjet printer |
3rd Generation ink |
Suitable. Refer to next table |
|
Canon Colorwave |
CrystalPoint™ |
Suitable |
|
Canon Colorado 1650 |
UV Gel |
Suitable |
Note: if water-based ink-jet coating or (slightly) solvent ink-jet coating is pre-coated on the surface of Tyvek® materials, it is feasible to directly print with water-based ink-jet printers or (slightly) solvent ink-jet printers.
HP Latex suitability
Tyvek® style |
300 and 500 series |
1500 and 3000 series |
1025D |
Certified |
Profiled |
1057D |
Certified |
Profiled |
1058D |
Certified |
Profiled |
1073D |
Certified |
Profiled |
1082D |
Certified |
Profiled |
1442R |
Unsuitable |
Unsuitable |
1473R |
Unsuitable |
Unsuitable |
For certification information, visit the website http://www.hp.com/go/mediasolutionslocator and search ‘DuPont’ in the HP PrintOS Media Locator. For information on all machines that have passed authentication for use with Tyvek® materials, click ‘download’ to enter the downloading page or consult DuPont sales and technical personnel.