Inkjet technology developerXAARhas published a白皮书that demonstrates how itsUltra High ViscosityTechnology can be used to “print without limits and drive creativity” in 3D and additive manufacturing applications.
通过内部分析，XAAR强调了其打印头在喷射温度下（或在环境温度下的1000CP）以约100 centipoises（或1000CP）的粘度沉积流体的能力，使它们能够克服墨水技术的传统缺陷。实际上，由于这些打印头能够达到的精确度提高，该公司表示，超高的粘度现在正在将喷墨3D打印或将零件涂覆到“全新的水平”上。
Xaar高级应用程序，技术和流体负责人Mike Seal说：“超高粘度技术提供了广泛的新3D和AM可能性。”“我们为人们提供了一种新的工具来创造更好的产品，并具有超高的粘度，通过实现其他喷墨打印头不可能的额外材料特性来改变传统和3D打印。”
Xaar的不断增长的AM喷墨产品
Founded in Cambridge, UK, Xaar is a leading manufacturer of advanced inkjet printheads that are designed to consistently jet precise volumes of fluids with a pinpoint level of accuracy. As the firm has iteratively developed its technologies, it has gradually built up a portfolio with sufficient efficiency and tailorability benefits that packaging, labelling, ceramic, glass decoration and increasingly, 3D and additive manufacturing clients, have begun to adopt them within varying end-use applications.
The company’s recently-released ‘XAARIrix’例如，打印头能够打印3D流体和墨水，无论它们是基于溶剂的还是工业用例所需的溶剂，而其XAAR 1003 Printhead现在正在内部运输DP Polar的Ampolar I13D printer, a system that’s specifically built to enable the mass-production of parts.
With technology enabled through itsImaginex夏尔平台,荣誉护卫的最新喷咀也显示significant potential within 3D printing, thus to delve deeper into why this might be, and identify further applications for the technology, Seal has teamed up with the firm’s Principal Engineer of Advanced Applications Nick Jackson, to pen a paper they’ve now published online.
喷墨粘度难题
According to the Xaar duo, inkjet printing’s speed, resolution and reliability has made it “a key enabler for many innovators,” but the technology also has its limits. One such drawback relates to the ‘low viscosity’ of inkjet’s compatible fluids, as their high flowability makes them hard to print, and often causes them to be overlooked in favour of other technologies when it comes to experimental production applications.
Most industrial inkjet printing applications, meanwhile, have typically had a recommended nominal jetting viscosity of up to 10-12cP, a parameter affected by aspects such as a printhead’s architecture, flow rate, temperature and fluid handling capabilities. The development of Xaar’s TF Technology helped enable the transition of inkjet into the industrial ceramics market, where fluids loaded with more particles have pushed the base viscosity higher.
However, the firm says that it’s only with the further development of a new technology and its latest printheads, that the stabilization of increased particle concentrations and densities, as well as the ability to explore higher viscosities in applications such as 3D photopolymer jetting, have now become viable.
Applying Ultra High Viscosity AM
Launched in 2007 with the ‘Xaar 1001,’ TF Technology describes the open sub-manifold structure of the firm’s printheads, which are designed to reduce flow resistance and enable the jetting of highly-pigmented inks. In practise, TF Technology devices are able to achieve this thanks to their unique fluid paths, which ensure that fluids flow past the back of the nozzle at a very high rate, and continuously recirculate to help avoid any blockages.
Since the introduction of TF Technology, Xaar has continued to build on this approach, developing a new print mode known as ‘High Laydown Technology.’ Compatible with the company’s existing printhead portfolio, the process enables larger drops of material to be deposited at a throughput of up to 165 ml/min, thus it’s increasingly allowing users to address productivity-intensive applications.
该公司在其TF和高铺设技术的脚后跟上也开发了超高的粘度，该功能允许印刷高分子重量聚合物和具有高色素密度和浓度的液体，可用于3D打印零件具有功能优势，例如更健壮，弹性和灵活。
Jetting higher viscosity fluids delivers improved edge definition on non-porous substrates as well, due to reduced drop spread (known as dot gain in analogue printing) before the print is fixed, and enables new types of materials to be inkjet printed, including adhesives, paints and photoresists, which open the technology to new biomedical, automotive, circuitry, electronics and braille-printing applications.
由于增强材料兼容性,Jackson and Seal concluded their paper by saying that Xaar’s printheads and Ultra High Viscosity Technology essentially open new applications for inkjet. The duo add that, at present, the firm’s Advanced Applications Team is working with customers to explore new applications and technologies, while their five-step process helps manufacturers evaluate fluids for use in new product development and advanced manufacturing.
For its part, Xaar says that it is “continuing to work with a number of fluid partners” to further establish the viscosity capabilities of its printheads, and it has already identified the potential of its products in “helping manufacturers transition to inkjet,” and to efficiently produce everything from customized small part batches to mass produced-components.
“With inkjet technology, the only difference between your final prototype and your product, is just the number you produce,” added Seal. “From enabling 3D printing on a truly industrial scale, to the mass-customization of 3D printed parts, we are excited to show customers how Xaar’s UHV Technology can take them from an initial conversation through to full commercialization.”
夏尔有兴趣阅读荣誉护卫的推波undaries of inkjet technology with high viscosity printing’ report in full can do sohere.
要了解最新的3D印刷新闻，请不要忘记订阅3D打印行业newsletter或跟随我们推特or liking our page onFacebook.
For a deeper dive into additive manufacturing, you can now subscribe to ourYouTube频道，包括讨论，汇报和3D打印进程的镜头。
Are you looking for a job in the additive manufacturing industry? Visit3D Printing Jobsfor a selection of roles in the industry.
Featured image shows a Xaar Ultra High Viscosity 3D print. Image via Xaar.
