BASIC TRAINING

ON PRINTING
TECHNOLOGY

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What is Printing Technology?

 Printing is a process for reproducing

text and images using a master form or
template.

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Types of Printing Technology
 There are two types of Printing

1. Conventional Printing
2. Digital Printing

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Conventional Printing
 Conventional Printing uses a customized plate to
transform the print data on to the media.
 It is the old form of printing but still used by most of
the companies.
 All printing processes are concerned with two kind of
areas on the final output
➢ Image Area (printing areas)
➢ Non Image Area ( non printing areas)
 It consists of four types of processes.
1. Plano graphics
2. Relief
3. Intaglio
4. Porous

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1. Planographics, in which the printing and non printing areas
are on the same plane surface and the difference between
them is maintained chemically or by physical properties.
The examples are offset lithography, collotype and screen
less printing.
2. Relief, in which the printing areas are on a plane surface
and non printing areas are below the surface. The
examples are flexography and letterpress
3. Intaglio, in which the non printing areas are on a plane
surface and printing areas are etched or engraved below
the surface. The examples are gravure, steel die engraving
4. Porous, in which the printing areas are on fine mesh
screens through which ink can penetrate, and the non
printing areas are on a stencil over the screen to block the
flow of ink in those areas, examples, screen printing, stencil
duplicator.

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Conventional Printing Techniques
 Letterpress Printing
 Offset Printing
 Gravure Printing
 Flexography Printing
 Dye-sublimation Printing
 Laser Printing
 Pad Printing
 Screen Printing
 Thermal Printing
 Pad Printing
 Intaglio Printing
 Relief Printing

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Pros and Cons of Conventional
Printing
Pros:

 The best quality type of printing available. Computer

to plate system delivers accuracy and quality.
 It does have more choice when it comes to print
materials.
 Special effects like spot varnishes are far better
quality.
 The Pantone colors can be achieved with the
maximum accuracy
 For higher volume , conventional printing is cost
effective and quicker.

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 Cons:
 Difficult to personalize and customize
during the job run as the printer setup
has to be adjusted.
 Can’t be used for short runs.
 Costly and slower when it comes to low
volume print job.

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Digital Printing
 Digital Printing refers to the methods of
printing from a digital based image
directly to a variety of media.
 It is the most widely used printing
technology in the current era.

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Pros and Cons of Digital Printing
Pros:
 The fastest mode of printing available
 For a low volume print run, it is the most
cost effective and a faster solution.
 Accuracy of proofing.
 A great strength of digital printing is how
easily a design can be customized and
personalized during the print process.

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 Cons:
 Digital Printing Technology can’t quite
match the color quality and sheer flexibility
of conventional printing.
 Unlike conventional printing, inks aren’t
fully penetrated into the print media that will
cause cracks in the color near edges.
 Difficult to achieve pantone colors.
 Expensive for a longer run

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Types of Digital Printing
Digital Printing is categorized as;
1. Digital Presses (Aerosol Jet)
2. Inkjet Printing

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Aerosol Jet Technology
Aerosol Jet is a non contact direct writing
technology which allows the deposition of
various functional materials such as particle
inks, polymers etchants and paste like fluids.
The process is based on the atomization of
the inks to produce femtoliter sized droplets
which are guided by a focused jet stream
onto the substrate. Within the deposition
head, the aerosol is focused by a sheath gas
flow and the resulting high voltage converging
particle.

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Inkjet Technology
 Inkjet printing is a type of computer
printing that recreates a digital image by
propelling droplets of ink onto paper,
plastic, or other substrates.
 Tiny electric currents controlled
by electronic circuits inside the print head
make miniature crystals jiggle back and
forth, firing ink in jets as they do so. You
can think of inkjet printers very simply as a
firing squad of nozzles rattling off millions
of dots of ink at the paper every single
second!

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Types of Inkjet

 Continuous ink jet

 Drop on demand

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Continuous Inkjet
 A high-pressure pump directs liquid ink from a reservoir through a
gun body and a microscopic nozzle, creating a continuous stream
of ink droplets via the Plateau-Rayleigh instability.
 A piezoelectric crystal creates an acoustic wave as it vibrates within
the gun body and causes the stream of liquid to break into droplets
at regular intervals: 64,000 to 165,000 droplets per second may be
achieved. The ink droplets are subjected to an electrostatic field
created by a charging electrode as they form; the field varies
according to the degree of drop deflection desired. This results in a
controlled, variable electrostatic charge on each droplet. Charged
droplets are separated by one or more uncharged "guard droplets"
to minimize electrostatic repulsion between neighboring droplets.
 The charged droplets pass through another electrostatic field and
are directed (deflected) by electrostatic deflection plates to print on
the receptor material (substrate), or allowed to continue on un
deflected to a collection gutter for re-use. The more highly charged
droplets are deflected to a greater degree. Only a small fraction of
the droplets is used to print, the majority being recycled.
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Drop On Demand
 Drop on demand is subdivided in to two;

1. Thermal DOD
2. Piezoelectric DOD

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Thermal DOD
 In the thermal inkjet process, the print cartridges
consist of a series of tiny chambers, each containing
a heater, all of which are constructed
by photolithography. To eject a droplet from each
chamber, a pulse of current is passed through the
heating element causing a rapid vaporization of the
ink in the chamber and forming a bubble, which
causes a large pressure increase, propelling a
droplet of ink onto the paper. The ink's surface
tension, as well as the condensation and resultant
contraction of the vapor bubble, pulls a further
charge of ink into the chamber through a narrow
channel attached to an ink reservoir

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Piezoelectric DOD
 It uses a piezoelectric material in an ink-filled
chamber behind each nozzle instead of a heating
element. When a voltage is applied, the piezoelectric
material changes shape, generating a pressure
pulse in the fluid, which forces a droplet of ink from
the nozzle. Piezoelectric (also called Piezo) inkjet
allows a wider variety of inks than thermal inkjet as
there is no requirement for a volatile component, and
no issue with kogation (buildup of ink residue), but
the print heads are more expensive to manufacture
due to the use of piezoelectric material (usually
PZT, lead zirconium titanate).
 A DOD process uses software that directs the heads
to apply between zero and eight droplets of ink per
dot, only where needed

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Print Head
 The Printhead is essentially the heart of
the entire printing system. For the very
popular 'on-axis' printer models, the
carriage, which holds the ink cartridges
and Printhead, quickly moves back and
forth above the paper surface during
printing

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Types of Print Heads

 Thermal Print Head

 Piezoelectric Print Head

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Thermal Print Head
 Thermal inkjet technology uses heat, as
opposed to electricity, to force ink from the
print head to the substrate. Conceptually
similar to the way water bubbles when boiled,
thermal inkjet technology works by electrifying
microscopic resistors behind the print nozzle,
creating an intense heat that vaporizes the ink
to create a bubble that expands so rapidly the
ink literally explodes onto the paper. After
ejecting ink, the chamber then cools quickly to
allow more ink to refill the chamber and the
process is repeated.

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Piezoelectric Print Head
 In the Piezo print head, microscopic
piezoelectric elements (like crystals and
ceramics) are built behind the print
nozzles. When an electrical charge is
applied to them, these elements bend
backward, forcing precise amounts of ink
onto the substrate. Because electrical
charges can be turned on and off like a
switch, there is a vast amount of control
over the rate of ink being ejected through
the nozzle while also creating perfectly
spherical dots at different droplet sizes.

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How Piezoelectric Head Works

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How Thermal Print Head Works

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Comparison between Thermal
and Piezoelectric Print Heads

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Inkjet Tree

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Ink Formulation
 Solvent
 UV Curable Inks
 Dye- Sublimation Inks
 Pigment
 Reactive
 Acidic
 Disperse Dye

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Solvent Ink
 The main ingredient of these inks are volatile organic compounds (VOCs),
organic chemical compounds that have high vapor pressures. Color is
achieved with pigments rather than dyes for excellent fade-resistance. The
chief advantage of solvent inks is that they are comparatively inexpensive
and enable printing on flexible, uncoated vinyl substrates, which are used to
produce vehicle graphics, billboards, banners and adhesive decals.
Disadvantages include the vapor produced by the solvent and the need to
dispose of used solvent. Unlike most aqueous inks, prints made using
solvent-based inks are generally waterproof and ultraviolet-resistant (for
outdoor use) without special over-coatings. The high print speed of many
solvent printers demands special drying equipment, usually a combination
of heaters and blowers. The substrate is usually heated immediately before
and after the print heads apply ink. Solvent inks are divided into two sub-
categories: hard solvent ink offers the greatest durability without specialized
over-coatings but requires specialized ventilation of the printing area to
avoid exposure to hazardous fumes, while Mild or "Eco" solvent inks, while
still not as safe as aqueous inks, are intended for use in enclosed spaces
without specialized ventilation of the printing area. Mild solvent inks have
rapidly gained popularity in recent years as their color quality and durability
have increased while ink cost has dropped significantly.

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UV Curable Inks
 These inks consist mainly of acrylic monomers with an initiator package.
After printing, the ink is cured by exposure to strong UV-light. Ink is exposed
to UV radiation where a chemical reaction takes place where the photo-
initiators cause the ink components to cross-link into a solid. Typically a
shuttered mercury-vapor lamp or UV LED is used for the curing process.
Curing processes with high power for short periods of times (microseconds)
allow curing inks on thermally sensitive substrates. UV inks do not
evaporate, but rather cure or set as a result from this chemical reaction. No
material is evaporated or removed, which means about 100% of the
delivered volume is used to provide coloration. This reaction happens very
quickly, which leads to instant drying that results in a completely cured
graphic in a matter of seconds. This also allows for a very fast print process.
As a result of this instant chemical reaction no solvents penetrate the
substrate once it comes off the printer, which allows for high quality prints.
The advantage of UV-curable inks is that they "dry" as soon as they are
cured, they can be applied to a wide range of uncoated substrates, and they
produce a very robust image. Disadvantages are that they are expensive,
require expensive curing modules in the printer, and the cured ink has a
significant volume and so gives a slight relief on the surface.

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Dye Sublimation Ink

 These inks contain special sublimation dyes and are used to print
directly or indirectly on to fabrics which consist of a high percentage
of polyester fibers. A heating step causes the dyes to sublimate into
the fibers and create an image with strong color and good durability.

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Pigment Ink

 Pigment ink consists of a very fine powder of solid colorant

particles suspended in a liquid carrier

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Reactive Ink
 In a reactive dye, a chromophore (an atom or group whose
presence is responsible for the color of a compound)
contains a substituent that reacts with the substrate.
Reactive dyes have good fastness properties owing to the
bonding that occurs during dyeing. Reactive dyes are most
commonly used in dyeing of cellulose like cotton or flax, but
also wool is dye able with reactive dyes. Reactive dyeing is
the most important method for the coloration of cellulosic
fibers. Reactive dyes can also be applied on wool and nylon;
in the latter case they are applied under
weakly acidic conditions. Reactive dyes have a low
utilization degree compared to other types of dyestuff, since
the functional group also bonds to water, creating hydrolysis.

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Acidic Ink

 Acid dyes are water-soluble anionic dyes that are applied

to fibers such as silk, wool, nylon and modified acrylic
fibers using neutral to acid dye baths. Attachment to the fiber
is attributed, at least partly, to salt formation between anionic
groups in the dyes and cationic groups in the fiber. Acid dyes
are not substantive to cellulosic fibers. Most synthetic food
colors fall in this category.

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Disperse Dye Ink
 Disperse dyes were originally developed for the
dyeing of cellulose acetate, and are water-insoluble.
The dyes are finely ground in the presence of a
dispersing agent and sold as a paste, or spray-dried
and sold as a powder. Their main use is to
dye polyester, but they can also be used to dye
nylon, cellulose triacetate, and acrylic fibers. In some
cases, a dyeing temperature of 130 °C (266 °F) is
required, and a pressurized dyebath is used. The
very fine particle size gives a large surface area that
aids dissolution to allow uptake by the fiber. The
dyeing rate can be significantly influenced by the
choice of dispersing agent used during the grinding.

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Color Models
A color model is a system for creating a
full range of colors from a small set of
primary colors. There are two types of
color models:

 Additive
 Subtractive

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Additive Color Model
 Additive color models use light to
display color.
 RGB model is referred to as Additive
Color Model

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RGB Color Model
 The RGB color model is an additive
color model in which red, green and blue
light are added together in various ways
to reproduce a broad array of colors.

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Subtractive Color Model
 Subtractive color models use printing
inks.
 CMYK model is referred to as
Subtractive color model.

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CMYK Color Model
 The CMYK color model (process color,
four color) is a subtractive color model,
used in color printing, and is also used
to describe the printing process itself.
CMYK refers to the four inks used in
some color printing: cyan, magenta,
yellow, and key (black).

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 Thank You
Researched and prepared by;

Syed Abid Hussain Zaidi

Technical Manager, Pakistan
Signtrade International

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