Reactive ink-jet printing
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorsDavid E. Hackleman, Norman E. Pawlowski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of increasing the water fastness and print quality of an ink employed in ink-jet printers is provided. The method involves providing a reactive species that reacts with a component in the substrate (i.e., paper) to form a polymer that binds the dye in the ink to the polymeric lattice. Alternatively, a separate reactive component may be deposited on the substrate on the same location as the reactive species which causes a polymeric reaction to occur. In this case, the ink may be in one or the other or both reactive components. An ink-jet printer having indexed orifices permits registration of deposited droplets of ink and reactive species to form the desired product.
Claims30
A method of improving the water fastness of an ink on a substrate employing ink-jet printing comprising:
- (a) providing said substrate;
- (b) providing an ink-jet print head having at least a first set of nozzles connected to a first reservoir;
- (c) providing an ink composition comprising a coloring agent and a vehicle and at least one reactive species capable of reacting with a second species to form a polymer on said substrate, said polymer binding said coloring thereto, said second species comprising either a component in said substrate or a component maintained in a second reservoir, separate from said first reservoir and associated with a second set of nozzles indexed with said first set of nozzles;
- and
- (d) applying either said ink or said ink and said second component separately to said substrate to form said polymer thereon.
A method of improving the water fastness of an ink on a substrate employing ink-jet printing comprising:
- (a) providing said substrate;
- (b) providing an ink-jet print head having a plurality of nozzles connected to a reservoir;
- (c) providing an ink composition comprising a coloring agent and a vehicle and at least one reactive species capable of reacting with a second species to form a polymer on said substrate, said polymer binding said coloring agent thereto, said second species comprising a component in said substrate;
- and
- (d) applying said ink to said substrate to form said polymer thereon.
A method of improving the water fastness of an ink on a substrate employing ink-jet printing comprising:
- (a) providing said substrate;
- (b) providing an ink-jet print head having at least two separate sets of nozzles, each set connected to a separate reservoir;
- (c) providing an ink composition comprising a coloring agent and a vehicle and at least one reactive species capable of reacting with a second species to form a polymer on said substrate, said polymer binding said coloring agent thereto, said ink composition maintained in a first reservoir associated with a first set of nozzles and said second species comprising a component maintained in a second reservoir associated with a second set of nozzles indexed with said first set of nozzles;
- and
- (d) applying said ink and said second component separately to said substrate to form said polymer thereon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.