Inkjet Academy

Theory of Inkjet Technology

Monday 11 - Tuesday 12 June, 2018

Novotel Gent Centrum Hotel, Ghent, Belgium

Course Focus

This one-and-a-half day course has been attended by over 3,000 people in the past 18 years. Presented by Mike Willis of Pivotal Resources and Dr Alan Hudd of Alchemie Technology, the course covers all of the basics of inkjet technology.

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

On the course you’ll learn how printheads work, the materials used in their fabrication and the theory of their operation. You’ll also find out about how inks are formulated and used, as well as ink supply and support systems.

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 11 June 2018

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

DOD Printhead Technologies

  • Thermal inkjet
  • Piezo inkjet
    • Piston mode designs
    • Roof mode actuators
    • Stacked piezo technology
    • Shear mode designs
    • Silicon printheads

Inkjet Ink Design

  • 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 12 June 2018

08:30 Session begins

Printhead Operational Issues

  • Drop placement accuracy
  • Drop ejection frequency
  • Crosstalk
  • Reliability
  • Life issues

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

Print and Image Quality

  • Factors affecting print quality
  • Printhead-ink-substrate
  • Greyscale methods
  • Drop detection
  • Missing nozzle compensation

UV Ink Chemistry and Curing

  • UV curable materials
  • Monomers
  • Oligomers
  • Photoinitiators
  • UV curing
  • e-beam curing
  • Print quality issues with UV inks

12:30 - 13:30 Lunch

13:30 Session begins

System Design Issues

  • Industrial ink supplies
  • Bubble control
  • Nozzle maintenance
  • Mist conrol

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 Limited, 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.