Developments in Dispersants for Inkjet

Abstract

With the continued growth in pigmented inkjet, particularly for wide format applications, the development of new additives is critical to the formulator's ability to meet future requirements on ink stability, faster print speeds and enhanced print quality. In particular, the continuing development and use of nano sized pigments to reach a wider color gamut requires an increasing dependence on dispersants to achieve stable formulations.Fundamental work on tailoring dispersants for different pigments in solvent and UV cured formulations has shown the potential for enhanced performance. Using nano mills, the efficiency of different dispersant technologies can be compared to optimize both millbase and ink storage stability in terms of viscosity and particle size. As is expected, the dispersant dosage becomes more critical as particle size is decreased and ongoing studies could yield better predictive rules for formulating nanopigmented inks.