Ferroelectric Printing: Electrical Surface Conditions and Print Quality

Abstract

The paper deals with ferroelectric printing. This digital print technology is based on imagewise poled ferroelectric PZT and liquid toner. Print quality depends strongly on the electrical conditions on the surface and mainly the difference in electric potential between printing and non-printing areas. On the other hand, the electric surface potential depends on parameters of the ceramic itself, conditions during the imaging process, conditions while printing, and time.While basic ceramic properties like the dielectric constant, coercivity, and remanence are mainly defined by the material and the manufacturing process, imaging and the printing processes may change the surface conditions with regard to the electrical contrast between the printing and non-printing areas. That concerns the value of surface potential as well as the transition curve between the different regions.Important print quality parameters are optical density and edge resolution. Thus, experimental work was carried out to investigate the relation between these features and surface potential on the ferroelectric printing cylinder during printing. The paper describes the main components used for ferroelectric printing and the experimental work. The results obtained are discussed to deduce first conclusions for further improvements of the process.