Direct inkjet deposition of ceramic green bodies: II - Jet behaviour and deposit formation

In order to successfully build three-dimensional shapes by hot-melt inkjet deposition it is essential to control the building block characteristics, i.e., the deposit geometry, dimensions and fine feature resolution. The deposit formation is mainly dependent on the material systems and their jetting behaviour. It is therefore crucial to understand how the jet formation is affected by the inks' rheological properties and how to manipulate the jet-head driving parameters to achieve optimum deposition conditions. This paper reports our investigations with a model jet firing station, about the influence of driving parameters of hot-melt drop-on-demand print-heads (e.g., pulse shape and frequency) on the jet and deposit formation characteristics, for both unfilled and powder loaded vehicles.