Carpet Tiles


ChromoJET Carpet Tiles

Basics

  • Carpet tiles are becoming more and more popular. Besides their modularity, carpet tiles also offer a wide range of design possibilities.
  • Constructions for printing can vary from tufted low-loop pile constructions up to high-pile twist and cut-pile constructions.
  • For contract business, loop-pile constructions out of PA6.6 with about 600 g/m2 pile weight are most popular.
  • Prints must have a good light and shampoo fastness, because carpet tiles are mainly used for offices and public buildings.
  • A number of printing technologies and processes are available - each one with advantages and disadvantages.

Printing Methods

ChromoJET Roll-to-Roll

Printing on roll-to-roll

  • In this case, the carpet is tufted on a non-woven Polyester primary backing with about 120 g/m2
  • To enhance stability, a pre-coat should be applied
  • After the CHROMOJET or COLARIS printing process, the carpet goes to the backing line either in full width or split into 2 m wide rolls
  • After the final carpet tile backing, the rolls are cut using either a tie-cutter or a camera-controlled knife cutter with rotating knives (especially used for carpet tiles with a backing out of non-woven Polyester fleece)
  • If a camera-controlled cutter is used, it is also possible to print very geometric designs and cut them according to the design
  • If a tie-cutter is used, only 'random designs' can be used

 

Printing on slabs

  • In this case, the tufted carpet is printed after its final backing. For easier handling, slabs of about 102 x 102 cm are cut out after the backing process.
  • These slabs are positioned onto the CHROMOJET, and normally a set of 4 tiles are printed onto each slab.
  • After the printing process, each slab is positioned on a tie cutter, and the tiles are cut exactly according to the print registration.
  • This process is more labour-intensive, and the printing line must be adapted to handle these slabs.

 

ChromoJET Carpet Tiles

Printing individual, pre-cut tiles

Before printing pre-cut tiles, a number of conditions and limitations must be considered:

  • In case a higher pile is used, it might be difficult to achieve solid colors on the edges
  • Variations of the color shade at the edge of the tile have been experienced, resulting from loose fibers and from uneven density at the edges
  • We have also experienced stability problems on certain backings, like bitumen or other thermoplastic compounds
  • This method is generally not really recommended

 

Printing oversized tiles and post-cutting

  • In this case the tiles are pre-cut with an oversize of about 1 cm (i.e. 51 x 51 cm; 61 x 61 cm...)
  • After the tile is printed, it must be cut a second time in a tie cutter, using a special cutting tool which registers the tile precisely
  • This method produces perfect tiles, but it is labour-intensive (putting individual tiles onto the CHROMOJET printer; post-cutting each tile, ...)

Printing Process

Printing Process ChromoJET

Processing individual carpet tiles or slabs with a Polyamide face fiber

  • Manual tile positioning
  • Printing with acid dye
  • Steaming
  • Washing
  • Drying
Printing Process ChromoJET

Processing roll-to-roll carpets of 2 m width

  • Entry with unrolling, accumulator, pre-steaming, center guiding
  • Design printing with CHROMOJET, using process colors
  • Optional penetration enhancement by SUPRAPRESS system
  • Steaming for about 5 minutes
  • Washing and vacuum extraction
  • Drying
  • Winding

Technical Data

Carpet Tile Printing Machines

  CHROMOJET800 COLARIS
 Technology valve jets with 50 or 76 dpi inkjet with 400x400 up to 800x3200 dpi
 Print on roll-to-roll 2,200 mm wide 2,200 mm wide
 Penetration excellent / full good
 Speed up to 1.5 m/min
depending on number of jets per color
up to 4 m/min
depending on printheads per color and print resolution
 Dye and ink acid, pre-met; special dyes acid ink
 Number of basic colors 14 process colors + 2 spot colors 6 up to 12
 Recommendation for pile products
from 300 to 1,500 g/m²
for low to medium pile constructions
from 200 to 800 g/m²

 


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