Indian Perspective of FESPA 2010

It was 5:50 am when I reached Munich on 22^nd June, the excitement was high as it was my first time in the land of technology and for the icing on the cake it was time for the long awaited FESPA 2010. I observed a bunch of FESPA probable delegates racing towards the baggage reclaim areas and on towards their hotels. It was going to be a rewarding five days networking, learning about new printing trends and technologies & understanding how these emerging technologies fit into the Indian scenario of the printing industry.

The surfing theme and background music made us surf through the registration area and into the exhibitor halls. On the way, we saw considerable awards for the India printing industry which was a merry sight. I picked up a copy of the FESPA daily, which was quite a good idea to keep the visitors informed about the highlights & product launches. The first day ended, getting familiar with the halls and flying through planned meetings.

The following days were dotted with visits to stalls of digital ink manufacturers, integrators, equipment manufacturers and service providers for understanding their view on Indian digital printing technology market. There was a synonymous loud positive buzz about the scope and interest in the India, which would have not been a case a couple of years back. With increasing acceptance of digital printing technology and end user demands, India is a fast emerging market. In the midst of the show, we had an interesting opportunity to visit a printing unit in Ingolstadt, where they had installed a printer from the new breed of VEGA UV digital printers from One Solution. Printers providing a balance between cost-effectiveness, production capabilities & quality like the “VEGA” are well suited for the Indian market.

By the time the overwhelming response and knowledge obtained at the show could sink in it was time to head back home with a suit case full of exhibitor profiles, test prints and goodies. Overall it was a well coordinated event and had something for everyone visiting. It was a great experience, we met a few old acquaintances and made some new. I am back now in India

enlightened with digital printing trends, looking to utilize the knowledge gained and awaiting the next tradeshow.

Scope of Digital Textile Printing in India

India Rising

WRITTEN BY ADITYA CHANDAVARKAR | 11 JUNE 2010

ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON GRAPHIC DISPLAY WORLD

The market for digital printing technologies in India is moving out of the preliminary stages and is now beginning to gain significant momentum. A PIRA international report states that the Indian digital printing market is forecast to reach US$ 177.3 million (approximately Rs 860 crore) by 2012.
Digital printing processes, mainly based on inkjet systems, are also making inroads into the textile printing sector, where screen printing continues to retain a strong grip. However, in this financial year, some three or four digital textile printing machines are being installed every month throughout India. This shows an immense growth when compared to the last year and in Gujarat alone there is a huge demand from the textile industry towards a move towards digital print production.
The reason that India is poised to become a lucrative market for digital textile printing technologies is mostly due to the high trajectory growth of its apparel and textile industry. This is driven by the favourable demographic/economic factors such as the rise in disposable incomes and an upwards shift towards more branded apparel. This is reflected by the domestic textile and apparel market having grown by some 6.5% recently. Exports also show significant growth and are up by 12% growth with many international retailers looking at India now as the best alternative to China for the sourcing of apparel products.
There is still a great deal of work to be done to update printers in India more frequently about new products and new product innovations. Digital textile printing technology now needs to be adopted in combination with conventional screen printing techniques for it to ultimately succeed in India. Recently in Tirupur, the knitwear capital of India, a unique combination of a digital printing station and a screen printing machine was installed and this amalgamation of analogue and digital production is creating many new and innovative printing applications.
India needs more innovative marketing strategies from equipment manufacturers to help spread the awareness of the many advantages of digital printing technology to conventional screen printers. We also need more local digital textile ink manufacturers to improve their logistics and provide increased profitability to the printer.
If nurtured appropriately, digital textile printing in India will be a truly great industry to be associated with in the coming years.
Aditya Chandavarkar
Director Silversheen Inks & Coatings Pvt. Ltd.
agchandavarkar@silversheen.com
www.silversheen.com

Ink Bordeaux – Harmless (Green) decision in the conditions of crisis.

This article has been written by Mr Gleb Fedorov in 2009 and has been published on this blog with his prior permission.

In the modern world of new technologies and the developed industry more and more the question on environment protection sharply starts to sound. Engineering procedure of many productions is not without waste, and furthermore non-polluting. In not to smaller degree it concerns also to the industry of the large-format digital press, in particular it сольвентного a segment. Manufacturers and users of ink try to balance in enough narrow niche as the price for a press end-product has already developed, and to lift it it is impossible, and the new legislation limits in use hard solvent cheap ink. Furthermore manufacturers have faced the second problem – Ecosolvent ink having remarkable properties in relation to ecology and environment: Absence of a smell, harmlessness of components, absence of harmful evaporations – have no sufficient adhesion and are in a greater degree suitable for use on the prepared materials – films with a cover or a vinyl fabric of the first-rate quality. However the market realities, especially become complicated conditions of the world financial and industrial crisis, the conditions and the manufacturer of advertising production dictate, in the conditions of financial crediting reduction is forced to search for ways of cost reduction of made production: to Save on consumables, the ventilating equipment, ink, additional profiling, thus the final client wishes to receive the same qualitative product, as before.
Before the manufacturer of the press there is a choice – or to print on expensive materials, with use of expensive ink, and thus to increase a transfer price, thereby narrowing a circle of clients because of dearness of an end item - or to pass to cheaper light, mild, I rub – Solvent ink which allow to use cheaper materials. It allows to lower the press cost price, but thus, ink, being more aggressive – reduce an economic life of printing heads and other components ink system, and harmful evaporations which are allocated at the press force to purchase also the expensive ventilating equipment which though facilitates a life of the printer all the same throws out a considerable quantity of poison gases because of what at the owner of the printing company, especially, in the conditions of more and more becoming tougher ecological legislation, can arise in environment and there are problems with services at supervision dignity-epidem. Many companies on production of ink for the digital press worldwide, having faced all these problems, have started to take steps on creation of new ink which could combine in it such factors as ecological safety, adhesion of ink to a wide spectrum of materials, and also wide color scope.
The following attempt to create ink meeting the above-stated requirements has undertaken companies Megaink which is at present absorbed by company INX, one year ago in assortment have appeared BIO light-solvent ink which are based on the components received at processing, Corn cultures. On ecological compatibility this ink almost corresponded to the European specifications on environment protection, however at insignificant heating (30-45 degrees on Celsius) necessary at the press of allocation of poison gases have reached level of use usual rigidly solvent blackened that has brought to nothing all attempts to present this ink as (BIO). Besides Adhesive properties of ink left much to be desired, printers have been compelled to lower speed of the press, to lower Ink Limit, to avoid banding, caused by insufficient adhesion of ink to a material.
Our company (Bordeaux Digital Printink) always aspires to be in tends of the market, therefore to working out of ecologically safe ink we have broken in 2004, and the first have let out Eco solvent ink on an open market, but by 2006 we have understood that the market demands to combine – ecological compatibility and profitability and high quality of adhesion. To department of scientifically research works there was a task in view to study available on the market and potentially possible solvents and adhesive materials and to deduce the formula which met all requirements, - it was a project reference mark named at us Green ink. Having studied properties of solvents, we have come to a conclusion that with the help, so-called biological solvents it is impossible to receive good adhesion, therefore we have stopped on inorganic solvents which on the ecological indicators did not differ at all from so-called – «BIO». But it possessed most the best adhesion, in times surpassing analogues from BIO selectors. And the first ink PgNr (Prime Green) – ink developed specially for printer Mimaki JV5 was born This ink is created on the basis of HAP Free materials, over quick-drying that allows to use on a maximum printer JV5 possibilities, Thanks to the improved adhesion the press on the cheapest Chinese materials and even on some kinds of plastic is possible. They almost have no a smell and at heating do not allocate a significant amount of harmful evaporations that relieves the holder of printing production of necessity of installation of expensive ventilation. And still, in the modern printing world sharply began to rise profiling and a printer reshaping under a certain kind blackened, more and more consumers wish to receive the qualitative economic decision, and thus not to muse about colour profiling , therefore this ink has been created also on the basis of technology Plug&Play that is – they can be mixed with original ink HS and thus the printer at all will not notice that it has started to print new ink as colours on 100 % of percent are identical to the original.
However in the course of finishing of ink on a test basis other feature of the printer has emerged, it has been developed so that to exclude possibility of use of open architecture of the printer – that is at use of jellied ink pressure in a head will debalance and air gets to system, many technical shifts lead to the short-term decision of a problem, therefore we had been developed system of continuous giving of ink (litre) and production of litre vacuum packages of ink which at use complete with system give 100 % excellent result and kilometres of kilometres of a quality printing is at present adjusted. Deliveries of such systems and packages in the Russian Federation it is planned for an early autumn of this year. However at all expenses for production ink is received though and is much cheaper original but nevertheless rather expensive, having devices JV5 – this price is comprehensible to clients, but there are also holders JV 33 for these devices which do not have in such high speed and difficult architecture, we develop ink PrMs – having wide colour scope, quick-drying, and almost flavorless and thus having adhesion peculiar to Light-Solvent ink. This ink is the excellent decision for users of printers JV33. Deliveries of this product have already begun. Thus, company Bordeaux Digital Printink at present is unique which has managed to solve a problem of creation of ecologically focused ink with the improved adhesion to a wide spectrum of materials under the price accessible to the consumer.

Basic Inkjet Technology Explained

Introduction

The concept of inkjet in theory is straightforward. A print head ejects tiny drops of ink onto a substrate. However, in practice implementation of the technology is complex and requires multidisciplinary skills. Reliable operation depends on careful design, implementation, and operation of a complete system where no element is insignificant. Inkjet Technology offers advantages to a wide range of applications. Inkjet is increasing viewed as more than just a printing or marking technique. It can be used to apply coating, to accurately deposit precise amounts of materials, and even to build micro or macro structures. Benefits of inkjet technology include:

· Reduction of manufacturing costs

· Provision of Higher Quality Output

· Conversion of Processes from Analogue to Digital

· Reduction in Inventory

· The new ability to process larger, smaller, or more flexible, fragile or non-flat substrates

· Reduction of waste

· Mass Customization

· Faster Prototyping

· Implementation of just in time manufacturing

Inkjet Technology Explained

All inkjet technologies are based essentially on digitally controlled ejection of drops of fluid from a print head onto the required substrate. However, this can be accomplished by a variety of methods. Inkjet technology is broadly and most typically classified as either continuous or drop-on-demand (DOD), with further sub-classes in each classification. Continuous inkjet technology ejects drops constantly to the substrate or to a collector for re-circulation and reuse. DOD technology ejects drops according the requirements.

Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) Technology: CIJ is a non-contact form of high-speed printing used to apply variable information such as dates, text, batch codes, product names and logos to individual products on the production line. This idea was first patented in 1867, by Lord Kelvin and the first commercial devices (medical strip chart recorders) were introduced in 1951 by Siemens.

In this technology a high-pressure pump directs liquid ink from a reservoir to microscopic nozzles creating a continuous stream of ink droplets at high frequency (in the range of roughly 50 kHz to 175 kHz) by the way of a vibrating piezoelectric crystal. The ink droplets then are subjected to an electrostatic field to impart a charge, the charged drop then passes through a deflection field, to print on the receptor material (substrate), or allowed to continue undeflected to a collection gutter for re-use. Only a small fraction of the droplets is used to print, the majority being recycled.

Advantages: High speed printing capability, High drop velocity (of the order of 25 m/s) which translates into large distances between the print head and the substrate, which is useful in industrial environment, Ability to use inks based on volatile solvents which allows for rapid drying and increased adhesion on many substrates, Freedom from nozzle clogging as the jet is always in use,

Disadvantages: Relatively Low print resolution, High Maintenance, Environment unfriendly technique due to use of volatile solvent-based fluids, Limitations of printed fluid has to be electrically chargeable.

Major Players: Domino, Imaje, VedioJet, Toxot, Willet, Kodak Versamark

Drop-on-Demand (DOD) Technology: This is a broad classification of inkjet technology where drops are ejected according to the requirement. In general the drops are formed by the creation of a pressure pulse. The method used to generate the pressure pulse is what defines the primary sub-classes with DOD which are as follows:

Thermal Inkjet: The thermal ink-jet method was not the first ink-jet method implemented in a product, but it is the most successfully used in consumer desktop printers and is making inroads in the industry. In this technology, drops are formed by rapidly heating a resistive element in a small chamber containing the ink. The temperature of the resistive element rises to 350^o- 400^o C, causing a thin film of ink above the heater to vaporize. The vaporization quickly creates a bubble, causing a pressure pulse that forces the drop of ink through the nozzle. Ejection of the drop then leaves a void in the chamber that is subsequently filled by replacement fluid in preparation for creation of the next drop. Depending on its design, a thermal ink-jet can be a roof-shooter with an orifice located on top of the heater, or a side-shooter with an orifice on a side located nearby the heater.

Advantages: This technology offers potential for very small drop sizes and high nozzle density, which leads to compact devices along with lower print head and product costs.

Disadvantages: This technology narrows down the option of ink fluids that can be used. The ink fluid to be suitable for thermal inkjet should be specially designed to vaporize (implying aqueous solution) and must be able to tolerate substantially high local temperatures. A combination of poorly designed fluids & high temperatures can cause a hard coating to form on the resistive element, reducing its efficiency & leading to reduction of print head life. The high temperature can also cause problems if, for example, the functionality of the fluid is damaged due to the high temperature.

Major Players: Canon, HP, Lexmark, Olivetti

Piezo Inkjet: Piezoelectric inkjet is currently the technology of choice for most emerging industrial application. In this technology, a piezo crystal undergoes distortion when an electric field is applied, and this distortion is used to mechanically create a pressure pulse that causes a drop to be ejected from the nozzle. There are many variations of piezo inkjet architectures including tube, egde, face, moving wall, and piston.

Advantages: Allows maximum ink development freedom amongst all the inkjet technologies, Long head life.

Disadvantages: Higher cost for print heads and associated hardware, limiting cost effective integration in low end products.

Major Players: XAAR, Trident, Seiko-Epson, Konica Minolta, Hitachi Ricoh, Fujifilm Dimatrix

Electrostatic Inkjet: Electrostatic inkjet is characterized by drops being drawn from an orifice under the influence of an electrostatic field. This field, acting between an electrode and the orifice, attracts free charges within the ink to its surface in such a way that a drop is produced when the electrostatic forces pull exceeds the surface tension of the ink. As this technique relies on the attraction of free charges, the ink is required to be conductive.

Advantages: Higher achievable resolutions than piezo inkjet are possible, Very small drops can be formed while still using pigments, as the size of the drop is controlled by the voltage on an ejection point and the properties of the particles, rather than by the size of the nozzle, High optical density images are possible due to the high concentration of ink fluid in the ejected drops.

Disadvantages: Only conductive fluids can be used, high cost of implementation of the technology.

Major Players: TTP, NEC, Tokyo Electric, Mathushita

MEMS Inkjet: This technology gets its name Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) fabrication techniques, which are currently used for integrated circuit production and have been adapted to manufacture inkjet heads. MEMS is proving to be a boon in creating nozzles, holes, manifolds and channel structures in inkjet head design. MEMS inkjet heads can be fabricated using modified semiconductor fabrication technology, laser ablation, photolithography, molding and plating, wet etching and dry etching, electro discharge machining (EDM), and other technologies capable of manufacturing very small devices. MEMS DOD print heads are invariably still, based on either piezo or thermal inkjet technology.

Advantages: The scale of MEMS is such that it permits larger and denser arrays of smaller ink orifices, increasing print resolution and MEMS inkjet heads work on the concept of single pass inkjet printing thus increasing the printing speed.

Disadvantages: At the moment, the type of ink fluid than can be used is restricted to aqueous, With a multitude of nozzles present, there is a need to develop foolproof unclogging systems and mechanism to detect/correct faulty nozzles, Initial high cost of implementation till it become a widely used technology.

References

1) The Chemistry of Inkjet Inks, Shlomo Magdassi.

2) Hue P. Le., (1998), Progress and Trends in Ink-jet Printing Technology, Journal of Imaging Science and Technology 42(1): 49–62, Le Technologies, Inc., Beaverton, Oregon

3) Burton J., Single Pass Inkjet Explodes – MEMS the Word

Glossary of Digital Ink Terms

Ink: An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for coloring a surface to render an image or text. Common perceptions consider ink for use in drawing or writing with a pen or brush. However, inks are used most extensively in printing.

Inkjet printing: A non-impact printing process in which a nozzle forces ink droplets from the print head onto a substrate at a high velocity.

Substrate: (1) A material or surface to be used for printing, adhering or finishing. (Often refers to media or stock). (2) A base material or foundation over which another material is supplied.

Aqueous or water-based ink: An ink that is primarily made of water but may contain small quantities of organic solvents, such as alcohols or glycols, to help the ink penetrate the print surface, keep the dyes in the solution and the pigments dispersed during ink storage.

“Bio” or vegetable-based ink: Inks containing ethanol solvents based from vegetables, such as corn and soy, which adhere the ink pigments onto the substrate.

Mild, Low-odor or “Eco” Solvent inks: Ink that is adhered to a substrate by a less aggressive or milder solvent. The inks often are referred to as “eco” because they generally are more economical than regular solvent inks.

Solvent: A liquid or agent that can dissolve, reduce or thin another substance.

UV ink: Ink containing an activator that causes polymerization under exposure to an ultraviolet light source.

Ink adhesion: The bond between the ink and the substrate.

Solvent-evaporating ink: Ink that adheres by allowing the solvent to vaporize either in ambient or elevated temperature conditions. These inks cure by having the solvent etch into the surface of the substrate used.

Solvent release: The evaporation of a solvent during the ink drying process.

Volatile organic compound (VOC): a liquid solvent that tends to vaporize at room temperature (High concentrations can be hazardous to worker health and the environment).

Introduction - Digital Printing

Modern Printing is based on digitizing information and representation of the information on a substrate, such as paper, pixel by pixel. One of the most commonly used methods of digital printing is through inkjet printers. Inkjet printing until recently was only used to replace conventional printing of paper/documents. However it has evolved, and is being adopted to print various functional materials, such as conductive inks, light emitting diodes(LEDs) and even 3D structures.

Some of the many advantages of digital printing technology are as follows:
• Decrease Manufacturing Costs
• Higher Quality Customised Output
• Reduction in Inventory
• Ability to process larger, smaller, more flexible, fragile or non-flat
substrates
• Reduction in waste
• Mass Customisation
• Faster Prototyping
• Just in Time Manufacturing

Reference

Shlomo Magdassi,2010. The Chemistry of Inkjet Inks, World Scientifuc Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Basic Inkjet Technology Explained

Introduction

The concept of inkjet in theory is straightforward. A print head ejects tiny drops of ink onto a substrate. However, in practice implementation of the technology is complex and requires multidisciplinary skills. Reliable operation depends on careful design, implementation, and operation of a complete system where no element is insignificant. Inkjet Technology offers advantages to a wide range of applications. Inkjet is increasing viewed as more than just a printing or marking technique. It can be used to apply coating, to accurately deposit precise amounts of materials, and even to build micro or macro structures. Benefits of inkjet technology include:

· Reduction of manufacturing costs

· Provision of Higher Quality Output

· Conversion of Processes from Analogue to Digital

· Reduction in Inventory

· The new ability to process larger, smaller, or more flexible, fragile or non-flat substrates

· Reduction of waste

· Mass Customization

· Faster Prototyping

· Implementation of just in time manufacturing

Inkjet Technology Explained

All inkjet technologies are based essentially on digitally controlled ejection of drops of fluid from a print head onto the required substrate. However, this can be accomplished by a variety of methods. Inkjet technology is broadly and most typically classified as either continuous or drop-on-demand (DOD), with further sub-classes in each classification. Continuous inkjet technology ejects drops constantly to the substrate or to a collector for re-circulation and reuse. DOD technology ejects drops according the requirements.

Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) Technology: CIJ is a non-contact form of high-speed printing used to apply variable information such as dates, text, batch codes, product names and logos to individual products on the production line. This idea was first patented in 1867, by Lord Kelvin and the first commercial devices (medical strip chart recorders) were introduced in 1951 by Siemens.

In this technology a high-pressure pump directs liquid ink from a reservoir to microscopic nozzles creating a continuous stream of ink droplets at high frequency (in the range of roughly 50 kHz to 175 kHz) by the way of a vibrating piezoelectric crystal. The ink droplets then are subjected to an electrostatic field to impart a charge, the charged drop then passes through a deflection field, to print on the receptor material (substrate), or allowed to continue undeflected to a collection gutter for re-use. Only a small fraction of the droplets is used to print, the majority being recycled.

Advantages: High speed printing capability, High drop velocity (of the order of 25 m/s) which translates into large distances between the print head and the substrate, which is useful in industrial environment, Ability to use inks based on volatile solvents which allows for rapid drying and increased adhesion on many substrates, Freedom from nozzle clogging as the jet is always in use,

Disadvantages: Relatively Low print resolution, High Maintenance, Environment unfriendly technique due to use of volatile solvent-based fluids, Limitations of printed fluid has to be electrically chargeable.

Major Players: Domino, Imaje, VedioJet, Toxot, Willet, Kodak Versamark

Drop-on-Demand (DOD) Technology: This is a broad classification of inkjet technology where drops are ejected according to the requirement. In general the drops are formed by the creation of a pressure pulse. The method used to generate the pressure pulse is what defines the primary sub-classes with DOD which are as follows:

Thermal Inkjet: The thermal ink-jet method was not the first ink-jet method implemented in a product, but it is the most successfully used in consumer desktop printers and is making inroads in the industry. In this technology, drops are formed by rapidly heating a resistive element in a small chamber containing the ink. The temperature of the resistive element rises to 350^o- 400^o C, causing a thin film of ink above the heater to vaporize. The vaporization quickly creates a bubble, causing a pressure pulse that forces the drop of ink through the nozzle. Ejection of the drop then leaves a void in the chamber that is subsequently filled by replacement fluid in preparation for creation of the next drop. Depending on its design, a thermal ink-jet can be a roof-shooter with an orifice located on top of the heater, or a side-shooter with an orifice on a side located nearby the heater.

Advantages: This technology offers potential for very small drop sizes and high nozzle density, which leads to compact devices along with lower print head and product costs.

Disadvantages: This technology narrows down the option of ink fluids that can be used. The ink fluid to be suitable for thermal inkjet should be specially designed to vaporize (implying aqueous solution) and must be able to tolerate substantially high local temperatures. A combination of poorly designed fluids & high temperatures can cause a hard coating to form on the resistive element, reducing its efficiency & leading to reduction of print head life. The high temperature can also cause problems if, for example, the functionality of the fluid is damaged due to the high temperature.

Major Players: Canon, HP, Lexmark, Olivetti

Piezo Inkjet: Piezoelectric inkjet is currently the technology of choice for most emerging industrial application. In this technology, a piezo crystal undergoes distortion when an electric field is applied, and this distortion is used to mechanically create a pressure pulse that causes a drop to be ejected from the nozzle. There are many variations of piezo inkjet architectures including tube, egde, face, moving wall, and piston.

Advantages: Allows maximum ink development freedom amongst all the inkjet technologies, Long head life.

Disadvantages: Higher cost for print heads and associated hardware, limiting cost effective integration in low end products.

Major Players: XAAR, Trident, Seiko-Epson, Konica Minolta, Hitachi Ricoh, Fujifilm Dimatrix

Electrostatic Inkjet: Electrostatic inkjet is characterized by drops being drawn from an orifice under the influence of an electrostatic field. This field, acting between an electrode and the orifice, attracts free charges within the ink to its surface in such a way that a drop is produced when the electrostatic forces pull exceeds the surface tension of the ink. As this technique relies on the attraction of free charges, the ink is required to be conductive.

Advantages: Higher achievable resolutions than piezo inkjet are possible, Very small drops can be formed while still using pigments, as the size of the drop is controlled by the voltage on an ejection point and the properties of the particles, rather than by the size of the nozzle, High optical density images are possible due to the high concentration of ink fluid in the ejected drops.

Disadvantages: Only conductive fluids can be used, high cost of implementation of the technology.

Major Players: TTP, NEC, Tokyo Electric, Mathushita

MEMS Inkjet: This technology gets its name Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) fabrication techniques, which are currently used for integrated circuit production and have been adapted to manufacture inkjet heads. MEMS is proving to be a boon in creating nozzles, holes, manifolds and channel structures in inkjet head design. MEMS inkjet heads can be fabricated using modified semiconductor fabrication technology, laser ablation, photolithography, molding and plating, wet etching and dry etching, electro discharge machining (EDM), and other technologies capable of manufacturing very small devices. MEMS DOD print heads are invariably still, based on either piezo or thermal inkjet technology.

Advantages: The scale of MEMS is such that it permits larger and denser arrays of smaller ink orifices, increasing print resolution and MEMS inkjet heads work on the concept of single pass inkjet printing thus increasing the printing speed.

Disadvantages: At the moment, the type of ink fluid than can be used is restricted to aqueous, With a multitude of nozzles present, there is a need to develop foolproof unclogging systems and mechanism to detect/correct faulty nozzles, Initial high cost of implementation till it become a widely used technology.

References

1) The Chemistry of Inkjet Inks, Shlomo Magdassi.

2) Hue P. Le., (1998), Progress and Trends in Ink-jet Printing Technology, Journal of Imaging Science and Technology 42(1): 49–62, Le Technologies, Inc., Beaverton, Oregon

3) Burton J., Single Pass Inkjet Explodes – MEMS the Word