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New digital printing process for personalized plastic design

Freedom for color

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Photo phone: digital photo printing could soon make mobile phones individual and unmistakable. A new abrasion-proof printing technique developed by Bayer can print flowers, leaves, water, fruit or even the user's ear onto the plastic.

Car instrument panels with elegant wood finishes are very popular. Yet the first impression can be deceiving, as the components are often manufactured from plastic. The fact that the plastics so closely resemble the original materials is thanks to a special ultra-high-resolution digital printing process. This method enables researchers in the laboratories of Bayer MaterialScience to print photoquality digital images on plastics. If necessary, the results can even be formed into the desired three-dimensional shape.

Unimagined individual design possibilities

Various processes are currently being developed together with a wide variety of partners. It is not yet clear which of these processes will ultimately gain the upper hand in the coming years. What is certain, however, is that it will be possible in the near future to decorate mobile phones with vacation pictures or immortalize one’s significant other on an MP3 player. Read the following article to find out about the advantages of the various processes.