Print quality considerations in ink jet printing in industrial applications

The print quality of text or graphics becomes of primary importance as digital printing applications on packaging shift from plain date coding to ingredient, promotional or other type of text information and logos. In our laboratory, we have investigated the print quality of various continuous and "drop on demand" ink jet printers on a number of substrates. In this paper, we present our work on ink media interactions and their effect on print quality metrics such as print density, sharpness, etc. In industrial applications, end use constraints as well as print head limitations narrow the latitude of ink selection. As media availability may also be limited, process conditions such as preheating or post drying become important to assure fast drying and good print quality. For example, a 300 dpi DOD system with a pigment-based ink gave excellent print quality (comparable to gravure) but required preheating in order to dry in less than 10 seconds.