Usually, the luminescent material is located between two plastic layers in EL carrier foils. However, due to the new printing process, the EL layers are directly printed onto the object without any intermediate carrier. In this way, convex and concave surfaces of various materials, such as paper or plastic, can glow.
The different components of the coating, including the EL and the electrically conductive materials, are applied by a novel pad printing process. The pad printing machine is equipped with an elastic rubber pad that is easily deformable and suitable for the coating of curved surfaces.
The process only requires a few production steps and is characterised by a low consumption of resources. By using various luminescent substances, various colours may be applied to the same surface.