Inventor of the carbonisation process, Venkatesh Chandrasekar, with Inkless co founder Arnaud Van der Veen.
Inkless, a Netherlands-based start up, has developed a monochrome printing technology that it claims ‘can completely turn the print market upside down.’
The Inkless process uses a laser to scorch the surface of the substrate, eliminating the need for inks and toners. The company claims that, unlike some other laser based marking systems, it doesn’t need any special surface treatment or coating.
Inkless co founder Arnaud Van der Veen said: ‘With Inkless, the paper is carbonised. If you would normally try this with thin material, such as paper, you would burn through it quickly. The resulting print would also not be permanent or black enough. Inkless has a much better control over the carbonisation process, which means we don’t have to print as deep and therefore do not damage the paper. Furthermore, we have developed a solution which ensures that the print is black enough and also permanent.’
Potential professional printing applications of the process include transactional, direct mail and books; it is also claimed to be suitable for coding and marking in the packaging and labels market.
The company is looking for partners to bring the technology to market.
Inkless originated from a graduation project of Venkatesh Chandrasekar who studied at the TU Delft. Together with fellow student Van der Veen he founded the company to develop the technology, with the TU Delft as one of its shareholders; all within the business incubatorYes!Delft. The startup employs seven and is based in The Netherlands.
