When a new technology is in the process of development and development, it has to go through many years to find its own way to invest in commercial production applications. In fact, lasers, microprocessors, electrophotography, and LCDs have all matured in about 30 years. The definition of inkjet printing was first proposed by Lord Kelvin of the United Kingdom in the 1860s, and then German scientist Hertz made a breakthrough in the 1930s. However, current thermal and embossing inkjet printing technologies were developed in the 1980s and were initially used in office printers.
Digital printing did not enter the large format image industry as a short-run printing technique until 1993. This large-format printing was previously performed using a plotter using a dedicated high-cost medium and printing with ink or toner. However, this method does not actually belong to the field of printing. However, recent large-format inkjet printing has provided image companies and digital printers with a new form of image industry. It is not only a branch of digital printing, but also poses a certain threat to screen printing. Therefore, it is now increasingly clear whether screen printing will be replaced by large-format inkjet printing.
After the rapid development of digital printing, some of the original fast printing industry or photocopying industry has become more and more prosperous, and gradually resisted with traditional screen printing and offset printing. The printing industry is gradually divided into two extremes. One camp is formed by traditional printing methods, and the other is camped. It is digital printing. Digital printing in the "cradle period" is not enough to overwhelm traditional printing methods. Its production cost is high and it cannot achieve the desired printing quality at an ideal price. However, those who support digital printing think that traditional printing will eventually be Instead of digital printing, the first to be replaced is screen printing or other special printing methods that are still relatively weak in terms of indicators.
Nowadays, the technology of digital printing, especially inkjet printers, has been greatly developed. In 2003, it accounted for 15% of the entire large-format image industry. The market share is much larger now. In particular, screen printing in China has not completely occupied the large-format printing market, and the proportion is even greater. Having said that, although large-format inkjet erodes the slight increase in screen printing, the direct impact on screen printing is not too great. It only opens up new business opportunities for the printing industry and even the image industry.
In the area of ​​small-format printing, screen printing still stands
Compared with screen printing, inkjet printers can be said to have different technical characteristics. Printing and printing technology can not match the performance achieved by some screen printing. On the contrary, screen printing can not reach the performance of inkjet printing in some aspects. For example, screen printing is difficult to duplicate 40 μm dots, and some inkjet printers can accurately replicate dots less than 1 μm. Screen printing, on the other hand, performs well on printed surfaces with thicker prints, printed PCBs and welding masks, sparkling patterns on T-shirts, and even numbers that can be erased on lottery tickets.
In image reproduction, inkjet printing and screen printing reproduce a pattern of the same thickness on the textile, so that there is competition. In industrial applications, the overlap between the two applications is very small, and each industry has its own priorities. In the field outside the image reproduction industry, for example, printing on the surface film of the pad, decorative plates, and industrial labels, screen printing is rarely used. Therefore, the threat of inkjet to the screen printing industry does not mean that it will replace screen printing.
Printed CDs and DVDs and related media were developed from screen printing. There are still hundreds of companies and thousands of machines engaged in this work today. Although inkjet printing is also attempting to perform decorative printing on CDs, screen printing still has an absolute advantage, and inkjet technology can only be used in homes and offices. Subsequent CDs and DVDs will be replaced by media with superior storage capabilities, which offers opportunities for inkjet printing rather than screen printing.
One of the markets in which silk screen printing has become increasingly popular is PCB printing, especially in Asia, where screen printing is still dominant in basic imaging, welding masks, and legend printing. For illustration printing, inkjet is a good finisher, but printing circuit boards and welding masks on the current PCB format, inkjet performance is not very good. However, this situation will soon change. The circuit board industry will undoubtedly grow to higher density and lighter weight, and the products will be more compact, making it impossible to use screen printing. Inkjet printing has its own place.
Large-format inkjet pioneered charge
Someone has given a boundary for the large-format inkjet printing. The limit is 850 × 1200mm, which is smaller than the width of this format in the general printing category. Printing larger than this size is called large-format printing.
Large-format computer inkjet appeared in the 1990s. The color inkjets represented by HP's Design Jet 650 and Encad Nova Jet have created a precedent for large-format inkjet printing, which can be called the first generation of large-format inkjet printers. The machine's width is within 900mm, inkjet ink capacity is limited, single color, low precision, only suitable for small-scale low-volume indoor advertising.
After years of improvement, the new generation of large-format inkjet printers features ultra-large format, high-precision, continuous ink supply system, resolution from 300dpi to 400dpi, printing speed continues to increase, more new waterproof, light-resistant inkjet ink suitable for outdoor advertising . In recent years, the field of application of large-scale color inkjet technology has expanded from outdoor advertising to decoration and decoration, GIS geographic mapping information systems, textile and clothing, and printing and proofing.
Large format four-color screen printing machine
Large format computer inkjet printing and large format screen printing
The features of large-format screen printing are as follows:
1. Printability is good and can be printed on any substrate.
2. Screen printing ink layer thickness, strong sense of three-dimensional, image color is good.
3. The printing speed is fast, it takes a few seconds to screen-print a large-format four-color outdoor advertisement, and it takes ten minutes to print a large-format advertisement.
4. When printing large-scale (50 or more) printed outdoor advertisements, the cost of printing is lower than inkjet printing. So now many advertising producers use inkjet printing for a small number of prints; screen printing for a large number of prints. This forms the complementary status of the two printing methods and the current status of common development.
Compared with large-format screen printing, large-format computer inkjet has the following characteristics:
1. The production process is simple, without the use of the printing plate only through the outlet image processor (RIP) output software, the text or image file is converted into the corresponding inkjet language for various format printers.
2. To achieve digital printing, there is no need for separation, printing, development and other equipment, equipment investment costs are relatively low.
3. Colorful and realistic, the output software can guarantee the accuracy of color.
4. Suitable for small batch prints, short cycle, timely delivery, low cost, with price competitive advantage.