1 - Types of Ink
Inks are liquids that are specially formulated to color surfaces to render text or images. The pigments in ink bestow
its main quality of colour and different characteristics of colour such as hue, saturation and brightness depend upon the
source and type of pigments. Inkjet printers use two kinds of inks; pigmented and dye-based. Pigmented inks contain agents
such as resins (in solvent-based inks) or binding agents (in water-based inks). These ensure the pigments’ adhesion to the
surface of printing. This is advantageous while printing as less ink is needed to create the same intensity of colour when
pigments stick to the surface.
In dye-based inks, dyes are dissolved in liquid and can give more intense colours. However, dyes
also dissolve into the paper and bleed over the edges, leading to lesser efficiency in printing and poor quality.
Inkjet printers today use specially charged coating that aids retention of dyes on surface and also quick drying. |
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For inkjet printers, the different inks are contained within cartridges that can be replaced when they run out of ink,
along with electrical contacts and a chip that enables it to communicate with the printer. Hence it is important to buy
a cartridge that is compatible with that particular printer. However, due to rather high cost of cartridges, you may choose
to refill a cartridge or use recycled ones or compatible cartridges manufactured by third parties.
Pigmented inks are costlier than dye-based inks and the specialised pigmented inks are more expensive than the pigmented
inks. However, the choice between pigment and dye-based ink cartridges rest upon a number of factors such as; price, water
resistance, and print quality and fade resistance along with the compatibility to the printer and PC.
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2 - Water Resistance
Dye-based inks dissolve completely in water and hence are easier for printing with inkjet printers than pigmented inks.
They also give intense saturated colours, but are not water resistant and take time to dry. However, this problem has
been minimised with the use of quick-drying solvents and other drying methods. Pigmented inks are more water resistant
as their particles settle on the fibres of the paper. They also dry about a 100 times quicker than dye-based inks.
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3 - Print Quality
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Pigmented inks may be preferred to dye-based inks for colour printing as it needs several colours to dry quickly and not mix into each other. This can lead to blurred and poor quality images. However, in general dye-based inks give more intense colours and better print quality. Some specialised pigments also give colours with similar intensity and vibrancy. |
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4 - Fade Resistance
Pigmented inks are more fade resistant than dye-based inks as the molecules of dye-based inks are spread out more finely. This makes them susceptible to ultraviolet radiation when exposed to the sun and also to air and water. Fading may occur due to these in 6-12 weeks, but when protected they may last longer. Pigmented particles are less susceptible to air, water and sunlight and therefore last for a few months before showing signs of fading, and when protected may last even longer. To protect from fading special pigmented inks for “Archival quality” have been developed and these can last for decades.
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5 - Toner Types
Toners consist of a black powdery substance with minute particle sizes and are used in the cartridges of laser printers.
Toners are of different types – dry toners, liquid toners and magnetic toners. The cartridges use carriers, which are
the active ingredients in toners, to charge the particles of toners.
5.1 - Dry TonersDry toners are very versatile and are used for printing text and images in colour for many laser printing applications. They provide excellent digital printing results as the powder is not absorbed into the paper but sits on the surface. This also aids the stability and longevity of the documents by reducing the effect of carriers. |
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5.2 - Liquid Toners
Liquid toners have pigmented or dried resin particles with sizes that are smaller than dry toner particles. Also, unlike
dry toner particles, liquid toner particles penetrate into the fibres and so are much difficult to remove. However, liquid
toner particles take more time to dry and so their printing speed is about half of that of dry toners.
5.3 - Color Toners
While using colour toners, dry toners are preferable as they last longer and have better colour stability. Also while
printing colour, each of the four colours cyan, magenta, yellow and black are printed separately, thus leading to four
layers of colours. This makes it very thick and can lead to fading or even change of colour at times.
In general the quality of print depends on a number of factors such as heat, pressure, surface finish and porosity of
paper and moisture content of the paper, as these affect adhesion of the toner particles to the paper.
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