By Olivia Cahoon
Part 2 of 2
Liquid coatings provide gloss, matte, satin, texture, or pearlescent finishes for vinyl, film, paper, and fabric material used as wallcoverings. The finishes fulfill a decorative function while also protecting the graphic. Some coatings are best applied with rollers while others use liquid laminators. Here, we provide a roundup of the newest and most popular protective liquid coatings.
Alliance Technology Corporation (ATC)
ATC UniFlex UV-curable liquid coating is available in outdoor gloss, gloss, and matte. It is washable, scratch resistant, E84 compliant, and compatible with most materials and inks.
Bob Leidlein, VP, sales and marketing, ATC, says the coating is excellent with vinyl, doesn’t crack, and is durable and flexible for a variety of applications.
ATC UniFlex provides exceptional flow, flexibility, and adhesion to difficult digital inks. The coating may be used to coat both sides of products and is flexible to adhere to paper and plastic surfaces.
ATC UniFlex coatings are available in gallon bottles, five gallon pails, and 50 gallon drums.
The company also offers ATC Flexi Gloss, a UV-curable coating for flexible media. It adheres to direct printing substrates like styrene, Coroplast, and di-bond. It may also be used as a prime coat and top printed.
DreamScape
DreamScape’s DreamGuard is a water-based liquid coating, approved for usage near food. It is designed for DreamScape wallcovering products but is also applicable to vinyl surfaces. It is used in hospitality, healthcare facilities, and educational and service environments.
“DreamGuard is specially formulated for additional protection against scuffs and abrasions on PVC and non-PVC substrates,” says Lisa Schultz, operations manager, DreamScape.
Schultz believes the coating is best applied with a one-fourth-inch paint roller. DreamGuard may be applied prior to or post installation and applies milky white while drying clear. It can be used with or without a laminator.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $75 for one gallon of DreamGuard. Coverage per gallon is estimated to be 1,000 square feet but varies depending on application and surface texture.
EFI
EFI’s Armor WB is compatible with standard media and inks used for indoor and outdoor signage, fleet graphics, and wallcovering media. The coating may be force air dried at 120 to 160 degrees in 20 to 40 seconds or dried at room temperature in 30 to 40 minutes.
“Our Armor WB product is ideal for wallcoverings as a water-based, non-yellowing clear coat with excellent elongation characteristics,” says Mark Goodearl, senior ink product manager, EFI. It’s designed to shield digitally printed graphics from chemicals, harsh solvents, and sun and element exposure.
Armor WB is highly durable with excellent visual clarity and protects for up to three years from sun and element exposure without cracking or peeling. “It is formulated with UV inhibitors proven effective in preventing pigments from fading,” adds Goodearl.
INX International Ink Co.
INX offers INXKote AC3664 Wallpaper OPV water coating primarily for paper substrates. The INXKote product line includes multi-functional coatings for sheetfed folding carton, label, and commercial applications to protect and preserve.
INXKote AC3664 is designed for paper wallpaper, often used in the recreational vehicle (RV) and manufactured home industry. “It offers great protection from cleaning agents such as Windex or 409 as wallpaper in RVs and mobile homes are often cleaned regularly,” says Davant Davis, director of distribution and coatings, INX International Ink Co.
INXKote AC3664 also allows tape to pull off and glue to pop off without harming the wallpaper, both of which are commonly found in mobile homes. It provides an attractive, smooth, matte finish.
Water coatings are primarily composed of water soluble resins and styrenated acrylic polymers. INXKote water coatings replace conventional press varnish and solvent-based top coatings. INXKote is compatible with soy and vegetable oil ink formulations and can be incorporated into most recycling programs.
Marabu North America
Marabu’s ClearShield Wall Armor is specially formulated for digitally printed wallcovering applications. It is compatible with latex, eco-solvent, and UV inks and provides fire retardancy.
A Type II certified solution for commercial applications, ClearShield Wall Armor is intended for retail store displays, hotels, restaurants, healthcare facilities, and commercial buildings. The coating protects wallcoverings against stains and scratches.
“Besides several different types of protection, Marabu’s ClearShield Wall Armor coating offers benefits such as making colors more vibrant, allowing different finishes, color fastness, scrub-ability, and sustainability,” explains Chuck McGettrick, sales manager, Marabu.
ClearShield Wall is offered in sizes from a quart to drum. It may be applied by manual application using a short nap roller, an HVLP spray gun, or using automated equipment. Two coats with a short nap roller dries one hour between coats.
Marabu also offers the StarLam 1600R liquid laminator for large volume customers. It is a 64-inch roll-to-roll liquid laminator that applies a smooth layer of ClearShield Wall Armor over a variety of substrates.
Premier Imaging Products
Premier Imaging offers Eco Print Shield, a water-based protective coating designed for water resistant media and inks. It is available in matte, satin, or gloss and resists scratches, moisture, light, and other contaminants.
Greg White, director of sales and marketing, Premier Imaging, says that Eco Print Shield is guaranteed not to yellow, crack, or go brittle. It can be sprayed or rolled on, and has almost no odor and extremely low volatile organic compounds.
Eco Print Shield is applied by rolling or spraying with an HVLP gun and is available in quarts, gallons, or 55 gallon drums.
Premier Imaging also manufacturers Print Shield, a lacquer-based spray for use on non-water resistant papers or inks. Print Shield features a non-yellowing formula for longer lasting prints. “It maintains the original look of the surface and eliminates gloss differential,” says White.
Liquid Coatings
Liquid coatings protect wallcoverings while enhancing and prolonging the graphics. Coatings may be used indoors or outdoors and protect against sunlight and high-traffic areas. There is a vast selection of protective liquid coatings for wallcoverings.
Click here to read part one of this exclusive online series, Protecting Walls
Click on the link above to get more information on the vendors mentioned in this article.
June2017, Digital Output
DOLC1706
