Internship Opportunity: High speed investigation of contact printing

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Introduction:

The printing of inks containing dispersed particles, such as binders and pigments, is a complex process that involves a combination of drying, wicking, coalescence, and film formation events. The combination of these phenomena controls the dynamics of drying and ultimate consolidation of a printed droplet and the quality of the final print. Flexographic printing involves a series of rollers (see image) which transfer this ink from to porous ceramic reservoir, onto an elastomeric patterned surface, and then onto a porous and wicking paper substrate. Understanding the dynamics of each of these process remains poorly experimentally studied and highly challenging. In this internship, you will study flexographic printing with high spatiotemporal resolution using high-speed imaging in collaboration with the company IG Design Group. This will enable you to study in detail the drying, porous wicking, local velocities, and film formation with micrometer spatial precision and sub-millisecond time resolution. Your efforts will be performed both within the PCC chair group laboratories and IG Design Group’s facilities in Hogeveen.

Aims

You will deepen the understanding of flexographic printing and study the effects of ink formulation, ink loading and transfer, and environmental conditions during the deposition process evaluated through the robustness of the final pattern.

Assignments

  • Use high-speed imaging to view contact printing in action at IG Design Group’s industrial printing facilities
  • Perform detailed image analysis of the ink contact dynamics (see image)
  • Provide insight into how to improve the printing control parameter such as contact pressure, ink loading, and print velocity.

Contact

Please contact Tom Kodger for further questions and details.