The SunNote range brings together existing Sun Chemical security inks and coatings with new products, to present a comprehensive Sun Chemical security range for the first time, said Sun Chemical's security printing manager, Stefaan D’Hoore. 

“We have now put everything together in a single portfolio and filled in the gaps," he added.

New to Sun’s offering are a range of protective coatings for paper bank notes and coatings designed for growth in polymer bank note printing. Other inks in the range include SunNote Shift, bespoke iridescent pigments and varnishes for banknote printing, and the new SunNote Arrest staining ink for IBNS, compatible with varnished banknotes. 

D’Hoore said that the SunNote range could potentially offer printers faster drying times than existing security inks and varnishes. “With a lot of the products we sell it’s about the productivity, being able to run faster and to reduce the number of washing cycles.

"The printing of a bank note is a multiple step process, you start printing it first, then it has to dry, then you print with Intaglio ink and so on. Drying time can take up to ten days but we’ve reduced it to next day,” he said.

“Where we differentiate ourselves form the current supplier is that we can use all of our knowledge from other areas.”

Other areas where Sun might potentially have more expertise than existing suppliers, are pigment development and gravure printing, according to D’Hoore.

He said: “We are also a pigment producer and that allows us to develop specific pigments which is a unique capability- the other suppliers are relying on pigments supplied to them. That means we can do a lot of special effects that others can’t, a lot of colour shift inks for example.”

He added: “Polymer bank notes are printed gravure which is one of our core competencies, so this trend brings this industry closer to where our competencies lie.”

The SunNoteT range costs from €20/kg to more than €300/kg depending on the product.