Inkjet printing in liquid media: Intra-volumetric drop coalescence in polymers

Abstract

The tendency to develop flexible and transparent materials has been growing in the last decade. As inkjet printing technology has become a widespread method for the fabrication of functional materials, the investigation of the inkjet printing process seems to be essential with regard to polymers, which are a viscous and flexible media. In this study, we evaluated the dependence of ink drop coalescence on process parameters such as polymer viscosity (controlled by polymerization time), drop spacing and drop speed. The results showed that drop coalescence was mostly influenced by drop speed, while drop spacing and substrate polymer viscosity did not significantly affect the printing results. The presented data are crucial for understanding the processes involved in the fabrication of flexible materials by inkjet printing.