Inkjet Academy

Theory of Inkjet Technology

Monday 8 - Tuesday 9 April 2019

Crowne Plaza Hotel - City Alster, Hamburg, Germany

Course Focus

Understanding the basics is essential to any industry’s development. The Inkjet Academy one-and-a-half day course covers the theory behind the many types of inkjet technology used today and aims to give your understanding of the industry an expert start.

The course will show you how printheads work, the materials used in their fabrication and the theory of their operation. You will also learn how inks are formulated and used, as well as about ink supply and support systems. The course examines how drops are formed, travel and behave on the substrate surface. Fundamental aspects of printer operation such as nozzle maintenance and print quality are also covered.

Presented by Mike Willis of Pivotal Resources and Dr Alan Hudd of Alchemie Technology, the course assumes a basic scientific knowledge and is designed to provide useful background information for anyone entering the inkjet industry, seeking an update on today’s technology or looking for further fields of development.


COURSE OUTLINE

Monday 8 April 2019

12:30 – 13:30 Registration

13:30 Course begins

Introduction to Inkjet

  • Course overview

  • Types of inkjet technology

  • Drop on demand technologies

  • Thermal and piezo inkjet

  • Evolution of inkjet markets

  • Inkjet patents

Inkjet Ink Technologies

  • Ink types: aqueous, solvent, oil, phase change & UV cure

  • Dyes & pigments

  • Inkjet ink formulations

Drop Production

  • Thermal inkjet

  • Piezo inkjet

  • Continuous inkjet

  • Bulk piezo

  • Si-MEMS/TFP

  • Deposition requirements

  • Drop ejection frequency

  • Crosstalk

  • Reliability

  • Life issues

Inkjet Inks

  • Inkjet ink design

  • Understanding the inkjet printing process

  • Drop formation

  • Properties influencing piezo inkjet ink performance

  • Testing an ink for reliability: methods & characterisation

17:30 Session ends

18:00 - 19:00 Reception

Join us for beers, wines and good company!

Tuesday 9 April 2019

08:30 Session begins

Drops in Flight

  • Drop placement accuracy

  • Drop break-off

  • Drop impact and spread

  • Mist control

Inkjet Ink Materials and Dispersions

  • Range of materials and ink chemistries

  • Evolution of inkjet inks

  • Evolution of dyes

  • Pigments and dispersion technology

  • Dispersion theory

  • Polymers and additives

  • Processes and manufacturing

System Design Issues

  • Ink supply

  • Nozzle maintenance

  • Mist control

Substrates and Interactions

  • Papers and coated papers

  • Films, rigid substrates

  • Bleed and intercolour bleed

  • Pre and post coatings

  • Adhesion

  • Requirements versus applications

  • Drying

  • UV curable materials

  • Monomers

  • Oligomers

  • Photoinitiators

  • UV curing

  • e-beam curing

12:30 - 13:30 Lunch

13:30 Session begins

Print and Image Quality

  • Factors affecting print quality

  • Printhead-ink-substrate

  • Greyscale methods

  • Drop detection

  • Banding, single pass issues

  • Drying effects

  • Missing nozzle detection

  • Missing nozzle compensation

Inkjet Applications

  • Coding, marking, mailing, addressing

  • Wide format graphics

  • Industrial decoration - décor & laminates

  • Ceramic tiles

  • Textiles

  • Commercial printing

  • Labels & packaging

  • Printed electronics, bio-medical & 3D printing

Emerging Technologies

  • Kodak Stream

  • Memjet

  • HP PageWide technology

  • Landa Nanography

  • Lead-free piezo

  • Speed & resolution trends

17:30 Course ends


COURSE LEADERS

Mike Willis, Managing Director
Pivotal Resources, UK

Mr Willis founded Pivotal Resources, a consultancy in the digital printing industry, in 1995. He has experience in a wide range of technologies and markets including drop-on-demand and continuous inkjet printing, electro-photographic technology, greyscale and colour reproduction methods and light sensitive materials. Prior to founding Pivotal Resources, he was Director of Electronic Printing at Meta Generics. He spent 8 years at Cambridge Consultants, and then was a co-founder of Xaar when it was spun out of CCL. Before that, he spent six years at Gestetner developing photocopiers. Mr Willis graduated from the Polytechnic of Central London with an honours degree in Photographic Sciences.

Dr Alan Hudd, Director
Alchemie Technology, UK

Dr Hudd is Director and co-founder of Alchemie Technology, an independent contract development and consultancy company to the industrial inkjet industry. Alchemie is developing and commercialising a range of novel printhead technologies through its joint venture company, Jetronica. These include solutions for the selective patterning of liquids and powders including graphene, textile pre-treatments, metal powders and drugs for implantable devices. Dr Hudd was the Founder and Managing Director of Xennia Technology from 1996 to 2012.

Dr Simon Kew, VP Technology and Business Development
Alchemie Technology, UK

Dr Kew leads Technology and Business Development at Alchemie Technology. He has over 15 years of experience in new product and process innovation applied to chemistry-enabled products. Working across industries including consumer goods, foodstuffs, chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, he has been responsible for delivering new products and process innovation programmes worldwide. He specialises in the delivery of innovation using digital manufacturing technologies including inkjet printing and additive manufacturing technologies. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering.