6. Inks for inkjet printing

6.1 Brief description of the process and its applications

Inkjet is a printing technique that involves projecting droplets of ink from a small aperture to perfectly defined positions on a substrate, in order to create an image. There are two different inkjet technologies: the first is Continuous Ink Jet (CIJ), the second is Drop On Demand (DOD).

Continuous Ink Jet (CIJ) is based on the controlled fragmentation of a liquid jet. Disturbances cause the jet to break up into droplets of controlled size, at a specific speed. This is achieved by synchronizing the breaking of the jet with its speed. The ink droplets that reach the printing substrate are selected electrostatically (charged and then deflected by an electric field).

Drop-on-demand,...