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tags: TIJ讀書會
title: Pros and Cons of Inkjet Technology in Industrial Inkjet Printing Page 1~6

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# Pros and Cons of Inkjet Technology in Industrial Inkjet Printing

> 工業噴墨技術的優缺點噴墨打印

During the recent decade, inkjet technology has made large inroads into the industrial domain.

> 近十年來，噴墨技術已大舉進入工業領域。

Fairs like DRUPA, Fesba, Drinktech, and many more demonstrate the strong advance of digital and specifically of industrial inkjet printing. In fact, inkjet has become a mature technology for graphical applications. Even in functional printing like printed electronics, 3D, and bio/pharma/medical applications, there have been successful implementations of inkjet technology.

> DRUPA、Fesba、Drinktech 等展會展示了數位技術，特別是工業噴墨印刷的強勁發展。
> 事實上，噴墨已經成為圖形應用的成熟技術。
> 即使在印刷電子, 3D 和生物/製藥/醫療應用等功能列印中，噴墨技術也已成功實施。

The potential user of inkjet technology will find it useful in assessing the pros and cons of inkjet technology. We have, therefore, compiled here the views of the contributors of this handbook and have listed the advantages as well as disadvantages of inkjet, which still need improvement. Pros of inkjet technology:

> 這些噴墨技術的潛在用戶會發現它，並有助於評估噴墨技術的利弊。
> 因此，我們在這裡匯總了本手冊貢獻者的觀點，並列出了噴墨的優點和缺點，這些優點和缺點還有待改進。
> 噴墨技術的優點：

- No physical print form needed, thus saving cost and time for machine setup (color management; RIP) in comparison with analog printers.
> 無需物理列印形態，因此與類比印表機相比，節省了機器設置（顏色管理；RIP 光柵影像處理器）的成本和時間。

- Limitless design possibilities, along with immediate transition from one design to another and much lower capital associated with the design creation process.
> 無限的設計可能性，以及從一種設計到另一種設計的即時過渡及設計創建過程中相較下低很多的投入成本。

- High flexibility – lot size 1 is possible.
> 高度靈活性 - 批量為 1 也是可能的。

- High productivity, fast investment payback, and less time to market.
> 生產率高、投資回報快、上市時間更短。

- Maintenance costs of digital is lower as being a noncontact technology (says a Décor printer).
> 作為一種非接觸式技術，數位的維護成本較低（Décor 印表機是這麼說的）。
- Noncontact printing: important for rough surfaces, contoured surfaces, as well as mechanically sensitive substrates; adaptability to any surface, when combined with appropriate surface pretreatment.
> 非接觸式印刷：對於粗糙表面、輪廓表面以及機械敏感基材很重要； 當與適當的表面預處理相結合時，可適應任何表面。
- “ Direct-to-shape ” / “ direct-to-object ” printing onto contoured substrates.
> “直接成型”/“直接成型”印刷到有封閉區間輪廓基材上。
- Scalable print quality (print resolution and grayscale printing).
> 可擴展的列印品質（列印解析度和灰階列印）。
- Less waste of often valuable inks (particularly functional inks).
> 減少常態性耗材墨水（尤其是功能性墨水）的浪費。
- Lower consumption of inks.
> 油墨消耗量低。
- Precise control of deposited volume of functional inks.
> 精確控制功能性油墨的沉積量。
- Printing of large substrate sizes possible with relatively compact machines.
> 使用相對小型的機器可以列印大尺寸的基材。
- Technology is suitable for a variety of production scales (from prototypes to production-scale machines).
> 技術適用於各種生產規模（從原型到生產規模的機器）。
- When presses run – then impressive print quality (says a label printer).
> 當印表機運行時——帶來的是令人印象深刻的印刷品質（比如標籤印表機）。

Cons of inkjet technology:
> 噴墨技術的缺點：
- Expensive inks.
> 昂貴的墨水。
- More sensitive to the interaction between the ink and the substrate.
> 對油墨和基材之間的相互作用更敏感
- Limited layer thickness in single-pass printing (lower than, for example, screen printing).
> 單程印刷中的層厚有限（較低於，例如，網版印刷）。
- Fluids' viscosity limit lower than for, for example, screen printing.
> 流體的粘度限制低於例如網版印刷
- Inkjet is still a young technique with limited experience on the life span of inkjet machines, compared to demonstrated life spans of 10 – 20 years for analog printing machines.
> 與類比式的列印機 10 至 20 年的使用壽命相比，噴墨仍然是一項年輕的技術，在噴墨機的使用經驗壽命方面有限。
- Few (no) low-migration UV inks yet available (says a label printer).
> 很少（沒有）低遷移率的 UV 墨水可用（如標籤列印機）。
- Achilles’ heel are lost nozzles.
> 致命的弱點是噴嘴的損耗
- Artifact handling still trial and error for, for example, white lines, density unevenness (says a label printer).
> 工件處理仍需反覆試驗，例如，白線、密度不均勻（如標籤列印機）。
- Digital printing is software intensive and the operators must be well educated.
> 數位印刷是比較偏向大量軟體操作型的，操作員必須受過良好的教育。

The goal of this handbook is to provide all the advantageous features of inkjet to the reader and to address solutions for the challenges exemplified by the “ cons ” above. It is obvious that a close cooperation of technology experts throughout thefield is paramount for the development and implementation of industrial inkjet applications in a fast and successful fashion.
> 本手冊的目標是向讀者提供噴墨的所有優點，並針對上述“缺點”所例示的挑戰提出解決方案。 很明顯，整個領域的技術專家的密切合作對於快速成功地開發和實施工業噴墨應用至關重要。

In the following chapters, we will discuss whether or not inkjet is the appropriate technology for specific applications, and we will also compare inkjet with competing analog technologies.
> 在接下來的章節中，我們將討論噴墨是否是特定應用的合適技術，我們還將比較噴墨與競爭的類比式技術。

We conclude this chapter with an example of a successful introduction of inkjet technology into industry. Alberto Annovi from TecnoFerrari describes the transfer of the decoration of ceramic tiles from analog screen printing to digital inkjet printing:
> 我們以一個成功地將噴墨技術引入工業的例子來結束本章。
> 來自 TecnoFerrari 的 Alberto Annovi 描述了瓷磚轉印從類比式網版印刷到數位噴墨印刷的轉變：

At the time when the first tile was printed by an inkjet printer (Spain, 1998), the ceramic tile industry almost exclusively used the well-established screen printing technique for the tile decoration process.
> 當第一塊瓷磚由噴墨打印機打印時（西班牙，1998 年），瓷磚行業幾乎只在瓷磚轉印過程中使用成熟的網版印刷技術。

The competition at that time was mainly on prices, which prompted the major manufacturers to adopt a “ big volumes model ” with bigger and bigger batches and to save cost by way of developing their own inks internally. Small ceramic tile manufacturers with their low volumes therefore had difficulties to enter or be competitive in the market.
> 當時的競爭主要是在價格上，促使各大廠商採取越來越大批量的“大批量模式”，通過自主研發油墨來節省成本。 因此，產量低的小型瓷磚製造商難以進入市場或在市場上具有競爭力。

In this scenario, the first inkjet applications were not really successful: The possibility of obtaining high-resolution designs and a good gamut starting from just a few colors (CMYK) were not compensating for the poor reliability of the available printers in such difficult manufacturing environment and the high cost for the printers and the inks.
> 在這種情況下，第一批噴墨應用並沒有真正成功：獲得高解析度設計和僅從幾種顏色 (CMYK) 開始的良好色域，其可能性並不能彌補現有列印機在如此困難的製造環境中的低可靠性 以及列印機和墨水的高成本。

A further technical problem was the limited color fastness of the inks during high-temperature postprocessing of the tiles.
> 另一個技術問題是在瓷磚的高溫後處理過程中油墨的顏色牢固程度有限。

However, the advance of oil-based pigmented inks in 2006 changed the situation: Their cost was significantly lower, their thermal stability and colorfastness were much higher, and the jetting process was of higher reliability. More printhead manufacturers entered the market, thus adding competition and reducing the printer prices.
> 然而，2006年油性顏料墨水的進步改變了這種情況：成本明顯降低，熱穩定性和色牢度高得多，噴射過程的可靠性更高。 更多的列印頭製造商進入市場，從而增加了競爭並降低了列印機價格。

A further move toward inkjet was the 2008 crisis, which impacted the ceramic tile market and specifically hit the major manufacturers, because their “ big volumes model ” was no longer efficient.
> 進一步轉向噴墨的是 2008 年的危機，它影響了瓷磚市場，特別是主要製造商，因為他們的“大批量模式”不再有效。

Small factories were now able to buy inkjet printers and started to be competitive in the market since the cost of inkjet technology (printers, printheads, and inks) was essentially the same for everyone. It was neither possible nor cost-effective even for the major manufacturers to develop an inkjet printer or an ink internally.
> 由於噴墨技術（打印機、打印頭和墨水）的成本對每個人來說基本相同，小工廠現在能夠購買噴墨打印機並開始在市場上具有競爭力。 即便是大廠商自己開發噴墨打印機或墨水，也不可能，也不划算。

In parallel, some new developments in presses, glazers, and packaging were made that enabled the production of bigger tile sizes (over 60 cm), and noncontact inkjet printing thus became advantageous over a screen/roller, pushing a big thin tile passing over two belts.
> 與此同時，在印刷機、上光機和包裝方面取得了一些新的進展，使生產更大尺寸的瓷磚（超過 60 厘米）成為可能，因此非接觸式噴墨印刷比網版/滾筒更有優勢，推著一塊薄薄的大瓷磚，越過兩條皮帶。

In the past 8 years, inkjet printing has grown fast to become the dominant technique, thanks to strong competition between manufacturers of printheads, inks, and printer machines. Nowadays, inkjet technology has almost saturated the ceramic tile manufacturing (in some countries like Italy and Spain, more than 95% of production lines are digitalized), but still there are few thousands production lines to populate with new printers worldwide.
> 在過去的8年中，由於打印頭、墨水和打印機機器製造商之間的激烈競爭，噴墨打印迅速成為主導技術。 如今，噴墨技術已經幾乎飽和了瓷磚製造（在意大利和西班牙等一些國家，95%以上的生產線已數位化），但全球仍有數千條生產線安裝新打印機。

The challenge now for a ceramic tile manufacturer is to design a new product faster than his competitor and to create greater diversification by mixing press, roller, and inkjet printing.
> 瓷磚製造商現在面臨的挑戰是比競爭對手更快地設計新產品，並通過混合印刷機、滾筒和噴墨印刷來創造更大的多樣化。

The tile size has increased recently, and now it is possible to produce big slabs(over 200 cm) and their decoration process can only be inkjetted. The inkjet technology is still unable to produce a good “ materic effect ” (surface structure and 3D effect) due to limited particle sizes that can be jetted. This is why tiles printed by inkjet are sometimes considered “flat” compared to those produced with conventional screen printing. To produce “ materic ” effect by way of inkjet printing or by hybrid techniques of inkjet and analog techniques is therefore a “ new frontier ” in inkjet development for ceramic tile manufacturing. See TecnoFerrari’s chapter 45 (paragraph 3.2) for details on this further technology step.
> 最近瓷磚尺寸有所增加，現在可以生產大板（200公分以上），其轉印處理只使用噴墨。 噴墨技術由於可以噴射的顆粒尺寸有限，仍然無法產生良好的“材料效果”（表面結構和3D效果）。 這就是為什麼與傳統網版印刷生產的瓷磚相比，噴墨印刷的瓷磚有時被認為是“平面”的。 因此，通過噴墨打印或噴墨和類比式技術的混合技術產生“材料”效果是瓷磚製造噴墨發展的“新領域”。 有關此進一步技術步驟的詳細信息，請參閱 TecnoFerrari 的第 45 章（第 3.2 段）。

And some inkjet “ pros and cons ” specific for the decoration of ceramic tiles:
Inkjet pros:
> 以及一些專門針對瓷磚裝飾的噴墨“優缺點”：
噴墨優點：
- Efficient production with small batches
> - 小批量高效生產
- High productivity
> - 高生產力
- Fast investment payback
> - 快速的投資回報
- Less time to market
> - 縮短上市時間
- High-quality designs (resolution, grayscale, drop size)
> - 高品質設計（解析率、灰度、墨滴大小）
- Design randomization
> - 設計隨機化
>
Inkjet cons:

> 噴墨缺點：
- Sensibility to analog process fluctuations (glazes, kiln, etc.)
> - 對類比式過程波動的敏感性（釉料、窯爐等）
- Difficult for the ceramic industry to manage the “technology ” (printheads, inks)
> - 陶瓷行業難以駕馭“技術”（噴頭、油墨）
- Limited materic effect
> - 有限的材料效果
- Added costs for working reliably in ceramic environment
> - 在陶瓷環境中可靠工作的額外成本
- Limitation in jetting big particle size glazes and aqueous-based inks
> - 噴射大粒徑釉料和水性油墨的限制
- Operators need to have skills in electronics, software, and graphics.
> - 操作員需要具備電子、軟體和圖形方面的技能。

For further information regarding the comparison between inkjet and screen technology, see Chapter 2.
> 有關噴墨和網版技術比較的更多信息，請參見第 2 章。