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Inkjet technology is used as a core process inside fax machines, desktop and
workgroup printers, on-demand book printing devices, short-run color presses
and large-format printers for engineering and graphics arts applications, as
well as in many industrial applications. Besides printing on paper, inkjet
technology can be used for printing on plastic (credit cards), fabric for bespoke
curtains or dress materials, wall coverings, ceramics, metals and glass. The
main principles of the leading inkjet printhead manufacturing technologies
in use today were developed around the 1980s.
Inkjet printing technology is responsible for more patent filings and is the
subject of more research dollars than any other print technology. Many users
at home and in the office have already bought their third- or fourth-generation
inkjet printer. While prices for some models have come down to as low as $50
to promote the sales of ink cartridges, no significant price reductions for
printheads and inks have occurred in recent years. In order to protect their
aftermarket supplies sales from independent manufacturers, printer companies
such as Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Epson and Lexmark have established technological
barriers through the sophisticated design of printheads and ink formulations,
strong branding and strict enforcement of their intellectual property rights.
Consumer purchasing patterns are also changing. While most supplies were once
bought from specialized dealers at normal office hours, now inkjet printheads
and inks or films can be purchased 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at many
more locations or through the Internet.
World consumption of inkjet inks amounted to 67 million liters in 2005, valued
at over $30 billion. Consumption is forecast to grow at an average annual rate
of almost 8% to 2010.
Digital photography represents the first real change in photography in many
years and transforms consumers’ activity from passive viewing to active
participation, allowing them to do more with their pictures. In a desktop operation
the consumer can modify his pictures (color correction, clipping, inserting
messages) with sophisticated software and print them with photorealistic nonimpact
printers. New photorealistic inkjet printers—that sell for only $200—with
matched and improved hardware, media, and inks approach silver halide photography
with regard to image quality and water- and lightfastness. Photofinishing labs
can prepare hardcopy prints from image files sent by consumers via the Internet.
While inkjet has already become the dominant technology in wide-format short-run
color printing in engineering and graphic arts applications, short-run textile
printing is still emerging. Industrial inkjet printers are used to print large
amounts of variable data at high speeds in either narrow or wide formats on
a variety of absorbing and nonabsorbing substrates—for bar coding, product
identification printing, labeling or wire/cable marking. Piezoelectric inkjet
technologies provide great freedom of ink formulation (water- or solvent-based,
dye- or pigment-based, phase change, UV cure, ink temperature, viscosity range)
to assure adhesion and rub resistance also on nonabsorbing substrates.
Inkjet technology has replaced several other printing technologies such as
electrostatic printing, the diazo process and pen plotters for generating engineering
drawings, golf ball and daisy wheel typewriters in the office and at home,
and thermal transfer printing for creating labels and pictures.
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