The simulation study of fluid physical properties on drop formation of drop-on-demand inkjet printing

Abstract

Inkjet printing is a method for directly patterning and fabricating patterns without the need for masks. However, the physical phenomenon in inkjet printing process is very complicated with the coupling of piezoelectricity, elasticity, and free surface fluid dynamics. The authors use the volume of fluid (VOF) method as implemented in the commercial code FLUENT to model the details of the drop formation process. The influence of viscosity and surface tension of the liquid on the droplet formation process is investigated. Consequently, we find that the speed of liquid plays an important role for the jet stability. The viscosity of liquid greatly influences the final speed of droplet. However, the surface tension of liquid does not much affect the speed of droplet. It changes the shape of the liquid thread and final droplet.