Problem: A completely earth-friendly and versatile media for printing. Solution: UltraTex™ Organic fabric from Ultraflex is woven from 100 percent organic plant fiber with a water-based coating on one side. Biodegradable, recyclable and naturally fire retardant, it can be used in backlit or frontlit applications both indoors and short-term outdoors, and is compatible with solvent, [...]

Problem: Many banner materials have a tendency to curl on the edges, which can worsen over time. Solution: Herculite offers Bantex® 13-ounce 2S curl-free banner media, a flame-retardant, laminated blackout material specifically formulated so that it will not edge curl, even over an extended period of time. This preserves the aesthetic of the print by [...]

Problem: Water-repellent fabrics also repel inks and dyes. Solution: Pacific Coast Fabrics now stocks Deko-Tex Lotos 7058FLBN, a water-repellent, polyester outdoor fabric that won’t repel dyes and inks because the repellent is activated by heat in the calendaring process after the material has been printed. Applications include tents, umbrellas and furniture. SOURCE Pacific Coast Fabrics

Problem: For some projects there is simply no time to wait for the ink to dry. Solution: GO dMax 4 HS from Graphics One is a black dye ink formulated for high-production environments. Offering good densities in excess of 3.2 on dMax 4 film, the major feature of this ink is to image film at [...]

Visitors to the Exhibitor 2009 Show in Las Vegas March 23–25 watched a multimedia experience on an eight-foot video wall—and everything needed to produce it came out of a single portable box. Rainier Industries Ltd., Seattle, Wash., worked with DejaVue Display to introduce SystemM4, which controls four 22-inch HD monitors with one on-board computer. Display [...]

David Sobieski learned to package and sew parachute equipment while serving in the military at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. When his service ended, he attended the University of Minnesota and worked for the parking department on the Twin Cities campus. These diverse experiences merged in a business concept: design and manufacture [...]

Protective vests and body armor are fabricated using high-performance fibers, such as Kevlar®, Twaron®, aramids or high-density polyethylene. A research team at the University of Manchester, England, wanted to know how these ballistic fabrics react to piercing bullets at the micron scale. “By understanding the way a bullet penetrates the armor and the way it [...]

Hundreds of people, tons of material, soaring above the clouds courtesy of fuel, air and engineering; an airliner is the miraculous sum of many complex systems. Focusing on just one, airplane interior design and materials, has been a business success for Lantal Textiles, Langenthal, Switzerland. The company makes lightweight textiles, carpets, leathers and pneumatic seat [...]

Seventeen students from the University of Twente and Saxion, Enschede, The Netherlands, will drive into the sunset—and the sunrise—at the 10th World Solar Challenge in Australia in October 2009. The streamlined vehicle will be constructed of lightweight aerospace composite materials from TenCate, Almelo, The Netherlands, sponsor of the Solar Team Twente. TenCate composites are integrated [...]

Cold sores on the lips and inside the mouth, both caused by the herpes simplex virus, rank among the most uncomfortable and embarrassing skin ailments. The virus, transferred from person to person by contact with saliva, may have more modes of transmission than previously thought, according to the Hohenstein Institute for Hygiene and Biotechnology (IHB), [...]