Method for printing an ink jet marking on a surface

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9709819-B2
Application number	US-201314432683-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2013
Priority date	Oct 3, 2012
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

A method for printing an ink jet marking on a non-wetting surface for liquid ink, includes forming at least a first drop of solidified ink on the surface, by ejecting, by means of a printhead, a first drop of liquid ink at a first given ejection velocity and with a first given volume, and depositing, on at least one portion of said first drop of solidified ink, at least a second drop of ink having a second volume VOL 2 , by ejecting, by means of a printhead, a second drop of liquid ink at an ejection velocity.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for printing an inkjet marking on a surface that cannot be wetted by the ink in liquid form, that is to say a surface on which the drop of liquid ink forms a static contact angle greater than or equal to 90°, comprising the following steps:
(a) forming at least a first drop of solidified ink E 1 on the surface, by ejecting, by means of a printhead, a first drop of liquid ink at a first given ejection velocity V 1 and with a first given volume VOL 1 , and
(b) depositing, on at least one portion of said first drop of solidified ink, at least a second drop of ink E 2 having a second volume VOL 2 , by ejecting, by means of a printhead, a second drop of liquid ink at an ejection velocity V 2 ,
the first velocity V 1 being sufficient to flatten in step a) said first drop of ink on said surface and give said first drop of solidified ink E 1 a flattening contact area equivalent to the contact area obtained at equilibrium for a drop of the same liquid ink with the same volume VOL 1 present on a wettable surface, which is a surface on which the drop of liquid ink forms a static contact angle of less than or equal to 80°.

2. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the first ejection velocity V 1 of the drop of ink E 1 being such that if several drops of ink E 1 having a volume VOL 1 of 6 pl are deposited at the first ejection velocity V 1 , the mean diameter of the solidified drops deposited is, seen from above, greater than 39 μm.

3. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the surface being a surface of non-zero curvature.

4. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the marking being printed on the surface of an optical article.

5. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the volume VOL 1 of the drop of ink E 1 being defined such that the drop of ink E 1 is less than the critical volume for which the drop of ink E 1 bursts or rebounds when it is deposited at the first velocity V 1 on the non-wettable surface.

6. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the surface that cannot be wetted by the ink in liquid form being such that the drops of liquid ink have a static contact angle with the surface of greater than or equal to 90°.

7. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the drops of ink E 1 and the drops of ink E 2 respectively having a first volume VOL 1 and a second volume VOL 2 such that VOL 1 /VOL 2 <1.

8. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the first volume VOL 1 being within the range [5 pl to 15 pl].

9. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the second volume VOL 2 being within the range [20 pl to 50 pl].

10. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , said surface being a hydrophobic surface having a static contact angle with water of greater than or equal to 80°.

11. A method for printing an inkjet marking on a surface that cannot be wetted by said ink in liquid form, comprising a repetition of the steps of the method as claimed in claim 1 , thus with the formation of several first drops of ink E 1 solidified on the surface and the deposition of several second drops of ink E 2 on top of said first drops E 1 .

12. The method for printing an inkjet marking on a surface that cannot be wetted by said ink in liquid form as claimed in claim 11 , several of the solidified first drops of ink E 1 being formed on the surface in a first inkjet printing pass and the second drops of ink E 2 deposited on top of said first drops of ink E 1 being deposited in a second inkjet printing pass, after the first inkjet printing pass.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first velocity V 1 is sufficient to flatten said first drop of ink and give said first drop of solidified ink a flattening contact area equivalent to the contact area obtained at equilibrium for a drop of the same liquid ink with the same volume VOL 1 present on a surface on which the drop of liquid ink forms a static contact angle of less than or equal to 60°.

14. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the first ejection velocity V 1 of the drop of ink E 1 being such that if several drops of ink E 1 having a volume VOL 1 of 6 pl are deposited at the first ejection velocity V 1 , the mean diameter of the solidified drops deposited is, seen from above, greater than or equal to 40 μm.

15. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the first ejection velocity V 1 of the drop of ink E 1 being such that if several drops of ink E 1 having a volume VOL 1 of 6 pl are deposited at the first ejection velocity V 1 , the mean diameter of the solidified drops deposited is, seen from above, greater than or equal to 42 μm.

16. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the marking is printed on the surface of an ophthalmic lens.

17. The printing method as claimed in claim 1 , the surface that cannot be wetted by the ink in liquid form being such that the drops of liquid ink have a static contact angle with the surface of greater than or equal to 100°.

Assignees

• Essilor Int

Inventors

• Lippens Xavier
• Simonin Daniel

Classifications

• B29D11/00009

  Production of simple or compound lenses · CPC title

• B41M5/0064

  on plastics, horn, rubber, or other organic polymers · CPC title

• B41J2/2128

  by means of energy modulation (control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits or control circuits B41J2/04501) · CPC title

• B41M5/007

  on glass, ceramic, tiles, concrete, stones, etc. · CPC title

• B41J2/04581

  controlling heads based on piezoelectric elements · CPC title