Recent trends in ink-jet printing inks and papers

Ink-jet printers (IJ) were developed in the early 1980s and recently, their use has spread in the fields of business applications and computer graphics. IJs feature a faster printing speed than a thermal transfer printer. The printing quality of IJs has been improved to 400 DPI. It is said that even 600 DPI can be realized. Accordingly, almost the same level of printing quality as that of a laser beam printer (LBP) is possible. A compact model requires space of less than 50% of an LBP and smaller power consumption also should expand the demand of IJs for business application. In addition, with the extension of computer graphics, IJ color printers have been increasing remarkably lately. IJs have many advantages compared with the conventional electro photographic system. In the use of color ink-jet printers, an image quality is important and it is influenced by the applied ink and paper. In this connection, the recent trends are explained.