Tile Inkjet Printing -
How it works.
Part 1 of 2
History
Amazingly the concept of inkjet printing has actually been around
two hundred years but the technology was first extensively developed in the early 1950s. By the late
1970s inkjet printers that could reproduce digital images generated by
computers were developed.
Using the technology to print onto tiles began
in 2000 where it was showcased at that year’s Cevisama exhibition in Spain. Since
then there
has been a steady evolution of mechanical, electronic, ink, pigment and
chemical technology in a highly competitive market. Today there are a wide
variety of machines being made and used across the world.
Technology
Typically print heads use piezoelectric crystals
to control ink-flow out of microscopic nozzles directly onto the tile body. The technology is essentially the same as
your desktop inkjet printer at home however there are significant differences
in scale, resolution and speed of operation.
Instead
of using four heads which scan across the page tile inkjet printers use four or
more rows that span the entire width
of the tiles so the inks can be laid down in succession. The array may have up
to 1000 heads per row.
Inkjet printers can easily be integrated into glazing production lines
and the race is now on to develop machines able to
decorate tiles 24/7 at 1000 to 1500m2 per hour. The problem is that
there’s a trade-off between speed and resolution or coverage, just like the
printer on your desk at home, photo quality takes a lot longer than a page of black
text.
Some tile printers can produce very high definition images at up
to 1000 dpi which is beyond the ability of the human eye to resolve. For most
tiles around 200-300 dpi is adequate, roughly the resolution a colour magazine
or book. However, the most important feature is the amazing versatility of inkjet
printing.
Advantages
Different machines for digital inkjet printing are available with
a variety of characteristics but these are the main advantages.
·
The image printed is chemically stable
·
Inkjet printing is efficient and there’s far less wastage than
with contact printing systems like rollers.
·
Removing rollers from the process reduces moving parts and thus
costs of installation and maintenance.
·
Excellent potential to reproduce natural stones and pictures.
·
Much faster change-over times to new colours or designs.
·
Greatly improved consistency of colour because storage and control
of all printing parameters is more finely controlled and easier.
·
Because the inkjet process occurs at a distance it is possible
decorate relief surfaces and up to the edges.
·
Inkjet decoration shortens the path from idea to product.
There are more advantages but we must also admit that digital
printing cannot always substitute for traditional methods of printing,
especially when we need higher thicknesses of paste or when we need strongly
colored surface areas. Work is in progress so we can expect improvements and
further cost reductions because inkjet technology is still in evolution (after
overcoming initial problems). Inkjet technology is currently expanding its
reach to different kinds of tile and, of course, the technology aspect itself
is arousing the interest of more developers.
Part 2 next week.
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