IMAGE-IN: Improved ink-jet printing by control of ink-media interactions

Digital ink-jet printing has huge potential as an alternative printing technology for many packaging and decorative applications. By its very nature, ink-jet printing provides high added value since it meets the needs for short ran production demands of today's industrial and commercial markets. Use of UV cured inks is a rapidly developing technology in ink jet printing processes, and is making significant progress into areas until recently dominated by aqueous based ink formulations. However, despite this rapid adoption of UV cure inks in industrial processes, there is a lack of fundamental understanding in their behaviour at the media interface. Because of their historic and widespread adoption, aqueous based inks are much better understood in terms of process parameters. However, there is still significant scope for research to produce insights into the ink-media interaction behaviour that can lead to improvements in aspects of ink and media coatings. By studying the whole digital ink-jet printing process the IMAGE-IN project is using a synergistic approach to develop both a complete understanding of the generic science, which underpins the printing processes, together with extending the capability to satisfy the commercial, economic and environmental requirements of industrial ink-jet printing. To achieve these objectives the IMAGE-IN consortium consists of 7 partners (5 industrial companies and 2 universities) who collectively posses core expertise in all the key components of the printing process (inks, materials, benchmarking and characterization, modelling). The project is funded through the Framework 5 'Promoting Competitive and Sustainable Growth' program.