Since drupa 2004, ink jet technology has attracted more and more attention, and its application fields have become increasingly widespread. As the first choice for hard copy technology for digital inkjet, digital proofing, digital printing, digital photo printing, and home and office output systems, inkjet printing systems are It has been widely used in production and has bright market prospects. The "IT Strategy" survey report shows that by 2008, the market demand for large-format inkjet printing will double in 2003. By 2008, 3.3 billion square feet of material is expected to be used for inkjet printing, and the market’s relative sales value is expected to increase to US$5.13 billion.
1. Home and office areas
Inkjet printing equipment can be divided into small, medium and large format ink jet printers. Small format (below A3) inkjet printers as home and commercial equipment, sales in the global market reached 29 billion US dollars in 2002, including hardware, ink and printing materials. It is estimated that by 2007, the sales of small-format inkjet printers worldwide will reach 43 billion US dollars. This area is dominated by Hewlett Packard, Canon, Epson and Lexmark. Due to the lack of core technologies, large domestic electronics companies can only get involved in this area through cooperation.
In this field, inkjet printers mostly appear as personal computer color output terminals. The requirements for quality and speed are not very high, but the requirements are convenient, maintenance-free and cheap. Competitors in this area mainly include ribbon thermal transfer and color electrophotographic systems. Ribbon heat transfer can basically meet the above technical requirements, but the electrophotographic system is difficult to meet the requirements in the compactness and price of the system.
2. The field of color digital photo printing
In the area of ​​small format, color digital photo printing requires very high color quality and resolution, but the imaging speed is generally required. This area has grown with the popularity of digital cameras. This kind of system requires a small format, generally below A4. The fine inkjet system has achieved stable and accurate printing with 2 picolitre droplets on the image bearing medium. With a resolution of 2400 dpi, it is very close to the traditional color silver salt photos and the price is much cheaper. It can also be made at any time without pollution.
Application in areas above medium format
The main users of medium format (A3-B0) and large format (B0 and above) inkjet printers are design institutes and output service providers. Major manufacturers include Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, and Roland. At the same time, medium- and large-format inkjet printing is in a period of in-depth development and wide spread. Localization of products in this area also requires the innovation consciousness and market acumen of large enterprises.
1. Inkjet technology used in digital proofing
The effect of inkjet printers is close to the printing effect, and many publishers output proofs in this way. Since the traditional proofer is also using ink to image, theoretically it can express the color gamut very close to printing. However, the traditional proofer is based on manual ink and pressure adjustment, so the effect is very unstable. Industry insiders have this experience. This is the same set of film to take out the proofs, the effect is usually not the same. Digital proofing is digital imaging. It can be very stable. Some devices can use inks that are similar to ink components. Color gamut performance is also very similar to printing. Inkjet printers replace offset plate proofing and thermal transfer proofing.
2. Inkjet technology applied to the field of inkjet
At present, large-format printing of all indoor and outdoor displays, advertisements, and posters is mainly produced by screen, offset, and inkjet imaging. A large number of analyses and investigations have shown that screen printing is best suited for the production of more than 400 single-sheet jobs, but in fact there is a greater market demand for 200 sheets of single-sheet jobs. There are more and more varieties and small batches of jobs, and the traditional screen method is greatly limited. Inkjet printing offers a fast and efficient solution for this market.
3. Applications in the field of digital printing
Digital printing currently consists of two mainstream systems, electrostatic photography (toner) and inkjet imaging. Applications include variable data printing, publications, personal samples, direct mail printing, commercial printing, label printing, trademark printing, and even security printing. Among them, ink jet digital printing is directly printed by digital files and does not require plate making. A business can be printed within minutes after receiving an order, which is convenient, efficient, space-saving and labor-saving. The management of the printing process is easier and can be printed in accordance with the exact quantity required for the job, avoiding the waste in the color correction process of traditional printing. In addition, inkjet head digital printing systems using a combination of line arrays are superior in speed and can achieve output speeds of up to 2,000 pages per minute.
We are looking forward to the arrival of a new era of digital printing. Because of its features of no printing, no pressure, adoption of digital documents, stable system operation, and wide range of substrates, inkjet technology has been continuously improved with its own technology and is being displayed under the digital environment. A very strong momentum of development. In the near future, inkjet devices with larger format, faster speeds, higher quality, UV-backed, and UV-resistant ink jets that support double-sided printing will penetrate the broader market. Inkjet technology will glow infinitely in the wave of digitalization and gain greater development.
Reprinted from: China Inkjet Forum