Piezoelectric nozzle can handle inks with viscosity range 8-25cP (e.g., solvent, UV curing), drive frequency up to 48kHz, ink drop volume 1.5-35pL, positioning accuracy ±2μm. For example, the Epson PrecisionCore nozzle precisely controls droplet injection through piezoelectric crystal deformation (0.1μm displacement), is compatible with high-viscosity ceramic inks (22cP viscosity), and achieves 1200dpi resolution in tile printing with a dot expansion rate of only 5% (18% for standard screen printing). Production speed 40㎡/ hour (” Digital printing Technology “2023 data). The Thermal sprinkler (e.g. HP PageWide) produces bubble pressure (peak value >20MPa) through instantaneous heating (heating rate 10⁸°C/s), which is suitable for low viscosity dye ink (4cP), 4pL droplet volume, and printing speed of 100 pages/min (A4). The energy consumption is 62% lower than that of laser printers.
Ink chemical adaptation technology is essential. Dye inks (particle size <2nm) penetrate paper fibers by capillary action (penetration depth 10μm) with a color gamut of 98% Adobe RGB but light resistance only 10 years (ISO 11798); Pigment inks (nanoparticles <80nm) with water resistance Class 5 (ISO 2470) and scratch resistance >5,000 times (ASTM D5264) are by surface film formation (film thickness 0.5μm). Kodak ULTRASTREAM technology uses water-based UV ink (curing energy <10mJ/cm²) to provide 1200dpi accuracy in PET label printing with 5B adhesion (ASTM D3359), 8,000 sheets per hour capacity, and ink waste rate from 18% to 2.3% reduced.
Industrial inkjet printer systems print special inks with dynamic viscosity compensation. Fujifilm Dimatix SAMBA nozzle enables high temperature (60℃) printing of conductive silver paste (viscosity 12cP, solid content 85%), ink drop volume 10pL, line width accuracy ±5μm, resistance deviation ≤±2% (traditional screen ±15%) in flexible circuit board printing, reducing the cost of production by 37%. A photovoltaic company applies Kyocera KJ4B nozzle printing back silver electrode (line width 20μm), by modifying drive waveform (pulse width 3μs, voltage 24V), to achieve 50,000 drops per second injection, battery conversion efficiency enhanced by 0.8% (from 22.1% to 22.9%).
Environmental protection and regulatory compliance foster innovation. Aqueous UV ink VOCs emission <5g/m³ (solvent-based >50g/m³), with Agfa Anapurna H2500 printer, can be cured in 0.3 seconds (LED wavelength 395nm, power 120W/cm²), applicable to food packaging printing (FDA 21 CFR). When a label printer changed to using UV ink, $280,000 in compliance costs per year were saved (RoHS certification cycle reduced from 90 days to 30 days) and waste ink processing was reduced by 89%.
The economic benefit is remarkable. Ricoh Pro C9200 uses gel ink (viscosity 15cP, phase change temperature 40℃) to achieve 2400dpi printing on coated paper, with a drying time of only 0.2 seconds (5 minutes for traditional ink), and a short print cost (≤500 copies) 52% lower than offset printing. JetPress 750S achieves 3,600 B1-format sheets per hour, and the sheet cost is 0.008 (offset print 0.015) at 10% coverage, with the payback time reduced to 14 months (offset printing 28 months).
Future technology focuses on functional inks. Xaar 2001 nozzle is compatible with quantum dot inks (particle size 5nm, color gamut 130% Rec.2020) and printed OLED displays with a pixel density of 450PPI (error ±1μm). Zeiss Labs validated that two-photon polymeric inkjet technology is able to print microcircuits with a line width of 10nm (an alternative to semiconductor lithography) with positioning accuracy of ±0.3nm and 73% reduced wafer processing cost. Samsung Electronics test results demonstrate that the yield of printing RFID antennas with conductive ink (silver content 85%) is 98.5% (traditional etching method is 92%), establishing a new paradigm for mass production of 5G products.