The Kinds or Types of Printer Ink

Inkjet printers store their inks in ink cartridges. Depending on the type of printers, the number of ink cartridges and the types of printer ink are different. If it is a black and white inkjet printer, then normally there is only one cartridge of black printer ink.

On the other hand if it is a colour ink jet printer, there will be a number of ink cartridges with each cartridges containing different colours of printer ink. The kinds of printer ink colours are yellow, magenta, cyan and black. These are the four basic types printer ink colours and by combining them in various combination enables the full spectrum of colours to be obtained.

How does an inkjet printer ink cartridge work?

An inkjet works by producing very fine ink droplets containing different colours of ink dots to make up a printed image.

The jets are from very fine holes that are so small that the printer ink stored in them does not leak out by surface tension. The ink can only comes out if forced and this is where pumps come in. Each hole is controlled by its own electronic pump and these pumps are available in two different types.

The first type is known as piezoelectric pumps. The name is taken from the piezoelectric crystal that is used to make the pump. The crystal is formed into a circular ring surrounding the ink channel near the hole where the ink is ejected. When an electrical pulse is produced during printing the crystal contracts and forces ink along the out of the hole as a jet of liquid ink, hence the name ink jet.

Once the electrical pulse stops, the crystal returns to its original shape and ready for the next round. All these takes place in minute scale and each drop of printer ink is very small. Also the electrical pulses are produced in rapid succession producing thousands of ink dots per second forming the image on paper.

The second type of pump is known as Bubble pump. This is very similar to piezoelectric pump except instead the ink channel is surrounded by small heating elements instead of crystal. When an electronic pulse is sent to the heating elements, they heat the ink which expands and bursts out onto the paper.

Similarly when the pulse is removed the heating element cools down which in turn allows the ink to cool, and contract and ready for the next electrical pulse again. Do note that images produced by bubble pumps will dry quicker because the ink that burst onto the paper has been heated. Hence the name bubble jet printer.

Overall the working principle of both types are similar. In both system the printer ink cartridges may have as many as 24 or more ink jets and pumps. The kinds of printer ink used is solvent based and does not dry too quickly in air. When it is at this stage the ink will not dry up and can be left for long period even when exposed to air. Hence these types of printer ink are of special formulation. Off course each ink manufacturer has got their own special kinds and types of printer ink"brew".

However during printing, the ink is deposited onto paper which drawn off the the solvent. When this happens the image dries quickly. Ina sense this is good so we don't get smudges but if the printer ink ends up in your shirt or elsewhere it will be difficult to remove as the ink, once dried is indelible.

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