Basic Inkjet Printing Technology

Relative to the piezoelectric inkjet printhead, thermal bubble inkjet printhead has some disadvantages, such as the high heating temperature and the short lifetime expectancy. However, there are some advantages of thermal bubble inkjet printhead, the lower cost of manufacturing. Thus, how to use advantages and improve the disadvantages, then there is a chance to compete with piezoelectric printhead. For example, the solvent-based inks are used almost for all piezoelectric inkjet printheads rather than thermal bubble printhead. Therefore, Hewlett-Packard has developed a special ink, named as the Latex ink. The Latex inks are aqueous inks and after printing and heating up at some temperature, it then can adhere to non-porous substrate such as plastics and glass as the solvent-based ink. The water-based inks are more environmentally friendly than the solvent-based inks. As a result, Hewlett-Packard has also improved the disadvantage of thermal inkjet printheads and turned it into an advantage, but Latex inks cost more than solvent-based inks. The price of Latex inks might be lowered down if they are at mass production, and perhaps new innovative processes or innovative materials that can improve the cost of Latex inks in the future. Therefore, the cost of the Latex ink can be reduced again and it can compete with the solvent-based ink. In fact, those new or cheap technologies will replace old and obsolete technologies. However, the environmental factors may become essential and necessary, knowing the pros and cons of various technologies, the availability and inability of a wide range of materials, understanding the trends in industries and knowing the needs of business and industry is what the authors hope that readers can get more inspiration from this book.