Characterization of Printed Pigment-based Inks on Ink-jet Media using Cross-Sectional Electron Microscopy
Materials & Design, 25 (8):
647--654 (December 2004)DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2004.03.010
Abstract
This paper reports on the microscopic assessment of representative specimen cross-sections prepared by microtomy and ultramicrotomy with emphasis in structure–property information using optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, namely, the absolute optical density δ, the measured effective printing coverage , the averaged pigment-based ink layer thickness , and the morphology at 100\% nominal printing coverage. This work shows that for different test patches printed at the same nominal printing coverage a number of different printing schemes yield a pre-defined absolute optical density δ which basically depends on the measured effective printing coverage and the type of pigment-based inks used (spectral absorptivity m ≠∞) and therefore on the averaged pigment-based ink layer thickness . A method for estimating the spectral absorptivity m is presented which combines the absolute optical density δ of the test patch and the averaged pigment-based ink layer thickness as measured from cross-sectional electron microscopy.