Inkjet Academy

Theory of Inkjet Technology

Monday 21 - Tuesday 22 January 2019

SH Valencia Palace Hotel, Valencia, Spain

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 21 January 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 22 January 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, Mike was Director of Electronic Printing at Meta Generics.  Mr Willis was a founder member of Xaar - a spin-off company from Cambridge Consultants where he spent ten years working in a number of roles, culminating as Group Leader of Non-Impact Printing. 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 Ltd. Alchemie is an independent contract development and consultancy company to the industrial inkjet industry. Alchemie is also developing and commercialising a range of novel printhead technologies through its joint venture company, Jetronica. Jetronica specialises in supplying solutions to selectively pattern liquids and powders capable of using a wide range of chemistries from graphene through textile pre-treatments and 3D printing of metal powders to drugs for implantable drug devices.

Alan Hudd was the Founder and Managing Director of Xennia Technology from 1996 to 2012.

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