【Ink Discharge Evaluation Service blog : 1】Inkjet characteristics and evaluation
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Elephantech is advancing the mass-production of P-Flex®, the company’s Flexible Circuits, by using inkjet printing in its manufacturing process.
Inkjet printing eliminates unnecessary printing and is environmentally friendly, digital-ready and boasts a high degree of design flexibility.
As such, inkjet printing is highly compatible with additive manufacturing methods and its implementation is underway in a broad range of fields.
Inkjet printing technology allows for contact-less drawing by ejecting ink droplets onto predetermined positions.Dividing the ink into droplets of a specific size before ejecting and landing them with high precision requires the ink to possess specific characteristics that make it suitable for inkjet printing.
At the same time, inkjet printing functions by making high-speed micro-adjustments, and the consensus is that no device can accurately measure its characteristics. For this reason, we believe that the most reliable method to accurately evaluate inkjet printing is to actually eject ink using an inkjet printhead.
| Test items | Description of items |
|---|---|
| Initial ink filling | We will evaluate the initial fill characteristics on an inkjet nozzle. We will mainly judge whether the characteristics as a fluid are good. |
| Intermittent stability | We will evaluate the stability in situations where ink is discharged intermittently. We will mainly judge ink discharge stability and resistance to drying. |
| Droplet volume followability | We will evaluate whether the volume of the droplet follows changes in voltage. Higher followability will allow for finer control. |
| Drop velocity followability | We will evaluate whether the drop velocity follows changes in voltage. High-speed flight will stabilize the landing position and allow for high-precision printing. |
| Frequency characteristics | We will evaluate suitability for high-frequency printing. We will determine how far the printing throughput can be increased to. |