Full-color inkjet presses may soon join offset and electrophotographic systems in in-plants

By Noel Ward

Phase Change:  Something Completely Different

Although it uses print heads that rely on piezoelectric principles, Xerox phase-change technology is a truly different approach to ink-jet. Solid ink—a polymeric resin—is rapidly heated to its melting point and fired out the nozzle. The sudden heating and melting causes a molecular change in the resin, which leaves the nozzle as a liquid but returns almost instantly to a solid state as it hits the printing media. Piezoelectric heads are used for durability and the ability to handle the temperatures involved in melting the solid inks.

Unique to Xerox, the technology began nearly 18 years ago with a line of desktop printers. Those grew into the company’s ColorQube office printer, and the technology is now being expanded for production printing. The key differentiator is that the inks are not water-based. This addresses a key challenge of aqueous inks—absorption by the paper being used. Having the ink dry instantly eliminates cockle and curl, allowing pages to lie flat, and eliminates the heat of dryers. It also enables the use of inexpensive plain papers, which can significantly reduce the cost of printing.

Xerox had a technology demo of its solid ink system at IPEX, stating that it would not have a product until mid-2011—roughly the same time frame HP will be rolling out its T-200 and Kodak’s Prosper press will be available. The system shown at IPEX was capable of running a 20˝ roll of paper at up to 500 feet per minute, targeting direct mail and transactional/transpromo markets.

With the technology still under development, print quality is similar to some of the liquid ink machines, but still lags, especially for photographic images. But this is a machine that’s a year from general availability, and if the past is anything to go by, image quality will steadily improve between now and when it is launched.

What will your in-plant operation look like two years from now? How about five years? One technology that may be finding a home on your shop floor is inkjet printing. It may already be present in the form of monochrome addressing systems or wide-format devices. But if the hopes and dreams of leading equipment providers play out, full-color inkjet presses may also coexist alongside offset and EP (electrophotographic) systems.

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