Rheological Testing of Xerographic Liquid Inks: A Need for Printing Technology

Abstract

Rheological properties of xerographic liquid inks of different concentrations of solid particles have been tested. Generally we have found that viscosity decreases with increasing shear rate, i.e. the system is pseudoplastic as corresponds to the break down of aggregated particles by the applied shear. The viscosity of inks may vary in orders of magnitude depending on solids concentration, reaching up values of ~ 108 Pas for solids concentration of 40 wt%. The existence of a yield critical stress has been discussed and we estimate that it increases exponentially with solids concentration. We have looked for possible differences in the rheological behavior of ink samples obtained either diluting more concentrated inks or drying less concentrated ones. Concentration and dilution of xerographic inks do not change their rheological properties meaning that the microscopic structure of the concentrated dispersion is broken (when diluting) and recovered (when drying) reversibly. On the other hand processed ink (previously subjected to high mechanical and electrostatic stresses) behaves differently than non-processed ink. The properties of processed inks are not totally recovered when diluting, manifesting itself in a higher effective apparent viscosity. This result should be of main concern to liquid ink based printing technologies, for which elimination of waste by recycling processed ink is a major goal.

Keywords

• xerographic inks
• printing technology
• pseudoplasticity
• aggregation
• yield stress