I want to do some work by an inkjet printer (MicroFab Inc, USA). However, many printable inks are produced for screen printing specially now. For example, I want to inkjet print carbon nanotubes, but I can only get some carbon nanotubes dispersion used for screen printing from Sigma. Thus I am wondering if the inks used for screen printing can be utilized for inkjet printing as well. I will really appreciate if someone could told me his/her experience.
There are some INL JET printers used for printing on fabric and other raw materials alternative to screen printing in addition to the production of many types of inks for many different uses and ink specifications depending on the type and using of raw printed.
First, you must determine the type of the application and the material, and then you can selecte type of ink and printer
Hello,
I'm agree with Christian Punckt. it's not possible to use the same ink for 2 different process like screen printing and ink jet. A suggestion is to dilute your ink for screen sprinting (if you know the solvent used) to reach the viscosity of 20 mPas at the maximum. But you must pay attention to the sedimentation of your particules when you use a diluted ink.
Zhihua Pu, My company sprays Carbon Nanotubes regularly for our customers. Ultrasonic atomization is ideal so that the tubes are not agglomerated when they hit the substrate which helps them to be able to self-align. The solvent choices can be quite tricky but our lab has done many varieties. The others on these answers are basically correct. If you get screen printing ink, you will need to dilute it with solvents that have a chance at keeping it suspended. Or you can mix your own from pure tube powder.
You can reduce the viscosity of the ink by addiing solvents like IPA we were able to make a high tack ink for screen printing and then added some water TritonX100 and IPA to get the viscosity down and used it to refill a commercial HP ink cartridge HP61 black and it works like a charm.
So yes I do agree its not a plug and play type scenario but you need to do certain modification to the ink and you are good to go. One my publication on inkjet printing of SWNT should have the actual receipt on how to make the inkjet ink. Hope this helps
One of the issues we have seen is that some jetting methods do quite a lot of violence to the suspension, often breaking the tubes. Ultrasonics is a very powerful tool, but the net effect on the liquid is actually quite gentle. So gentle, in fact, that many live tissue cells can be atomized safely with ultrasonics, and the tubes themselves are almost never damaged.
I am trying to print a Prussian blue - graphite ink which is organic-solvent based and should be used for screen printing. Do you think the addition of an organic solvent and a surfactant can help to reduce its viscosity to be able to drop cast it?
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