Red Rhino, manufactured by US firm Monroe Rubber & Plastics Inc, has a shore hardness between that of existing standard and specialist rubbers.

"It's a compromise between sponge rubber and the harder specialist rubbers, to produce one product that does two jobs," said Sandvik Saxon national sales manager Andy Cull.

"It's slightly more expensive than the standard rubber, but it's cheaper than the specialist materials. On certain types of artwork, you don't need the specialist rubbers and so this will become more popular with printers because of the much higher machine speeds it offers."

He added that Red Rhino was available in standard form and with adhesive already applied. It can also be CNC cut.