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Modelling the Jetting of Complex Fluids in Inkjet Printing

Academic lead
Oliver Harlen, Mathematics, o.g.harlen@leeds.ac.uk
Industrial lead
Angus Condie, Xaar, angus.condie@xaar.com
Co-supervisor(s)
Sepideh Khodaparast, Mechanical Engineering, s.khodaparast@leeds.ac.uk, Claire McIlroy, Mathematics, coputC.McIlroy@leeds.ac.uk
Project themes
Advanced Manufacturing, Computational & Analytical Tools, Multiphysics & Complex Fluids

Industrial inkjet printing involves the precise generation and deposition of very small drops of liquid with wide-ranging applications from digital printing of ceramic tiles, flooring and glass, printed electronics, 3D printing and digital printing of textiles. This project is sponsored by Xaar, a world leading developer and manufacturer of digital industrial drop-on-demand ink jet printheads. Increasingly Xaar is being asked to jet more complex functional fluids for applications such as replacing spray painting. However, the jetting and drop formation characteristics of these complex fluids is currently not well understood. 

The aim of this project is to model drop formation in complex fluids under the conditions of industrial inkjet printing to understand how changes to fluidic properties affects jetting and help to understand the limitations to achieve reliable inkjet printing. This will be complemented by experiments to validate these models.

Figure: (left) Industrial inkjet printhead containing 1000 nozzles. (right) Image showing jet break-up in a multi-nozzle industrial inkjet printer.