Component labeling
Printing at 1000 degrees Celsius
Marking specialist Leibinger has developed a new pigment ink for industrial component marking with CIJ printers that enables a clear typeface even at temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.
A stream of red lava is between 600 and 900 degrees Celsius. It can get even hotter in a kiln, for example, where ceramic components for industry are hardened - such as spark plugs, insulators and cutting tools. Temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius prevail inside. The high temperatures are a challenge for the printing ink that manufacturers use to mark the components before firing. "There is a risk that the ink burns in the oven and dissolves into soot. The typeface, such as a model number, would no longer be legible and the component would be a reject," explains Christina Leibinger, Managing Director of Paul Leibinger.
The marking specialist from Tuttlingen has therefore launched a pigment ink on the market that enables clear lettering even at 1000 degrees Celsius. Not only ceramics can be printed on, but also metal and glass, for example in the manufacture of light bulbs and halogen lamps. The printer ink is available immediately and is compatible with the Leibinger CIJ printer JET3up PI.
The heat-resistant ink is a pigmented ink. Black color particles float in a medium - unlike a dye ink, where the dye is dissolved in the medium. It would evaporate immediately at extreme temperatures. However, after some research work, the experts were able to modify the particles and medium of the pigment ink in such a way that they can withstand heat of up to 1000 degrees Celsius without damage. They have also found a way to keep the particles in suspension for longer by chemically stabilizing them. This slows down the process known as sedimentation, in which the pigments are deposited on the bottom. The JET3up PI CIJ printer also has an integrated stirring mechanism that continuously mixes the ink.
120 million characters per tank filling
The heat-resistant pigment ink is designed for the JET3up PI - a printer that marks products without contact using continuous inkjet (CIJ) technology. An ink jet consisting of up to 96,000 electrically charged individual droplets per second shoots through a nozzle in the print head. During printing, a high-voltage field changes the trajectory of individual drops so that they land on the product surface as image dots. The remaining droplets fly into a catcher tube and are sucked back into the circulating hydraulic circuit for further use. The printing technology is fast enough to keep up with conveyor belt speeds of up to ten meters per second. It is also economical. The CIJ printer can print up to 120 million letters with one liter of ink. as
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