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How Inkjet Printers Work
A 'very informative' and useful series of articles. Reprinted with authorization from Image Specialists.
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Jump To:
Origins
Thermo-Technology
Piezo-Electric Technology
Color Perception
Creating Color
Print Quality
Color Management
Ink
Paper
Manageability & Costs |
Paper
Most of the current generation of inkjet printers require high-quality coated or glossy paper for the production of photo realistic output, and this can be very expensive. One of the ultimate aims of inkjet printer manufacturers is to make color-printing media independent, and the attainment of this goal is generally measured by the output quality achieved on plain copier paper. This has vastly improved over the past few years, but coated or glossy paper is still needed to achieve full-color photographic quality. Some printer manufacturers, like Epson, even offer proprietary paper, which is optimized for use with its Piezo-electric technology.
Inkjet printing can be costly when printer manufacturers tie you to their proprietary consumables. Paper produced by independent companies is much cheaper than that supplied directly by printer manufacturers, but it tends to rely on its universal properties and rarely takes advantage of the idiosyncratic features of the specific manufacturer's printer models.
A great deal of research has gone into the production of universal paper types, which are optimized specifically for color inkjet printers. PLUS Color Jet paper, produced by Wiggins Teape, is a coated paper produced specifically for color inkjet technology, and Conqueror CX22 is designed for black ink and spot-color business documents and is optimized both for inkjet and laser printers.
Paper pre-conditioning seeks to improve inkjet-printing quality on plain paper by priming the media to receive ink with an agent that binds pigment to the paper, thereby reducing dot gain and smearing.
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