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Designjet Ink and Canon IPF Ink -
Plus Basic Plotter Dye & Pigment Ink Guide
Pigment & Dye Inks
Guide for both designjet ink and canon ipf ink:
Generally for CAD plotters dye ink is the type used but is not stable in UV conditions. Hence, Pigment inks are used for the Graphic plotters where the print would be displayed in direct sunlight.
However the new range of DesignJet CAD plotters, the designjet ink is a new type HP Vivera inks. For which they state:
Affordable studio-quality photos
HP Vivera inks offer radiant color, enhanced shadow detail, and reduced image grain for stunning color prints and exceptional black-and-white images.
True-to-life colors
HP Vivera inks create up to 72.9 million rich, brilliant colors to bring your photos to life.
Longest-lasting prints
HP Vivera inks give you bright, vivid, amazing colors that resist fading for 108 years.*
However, when entering into the Graphic Profession it is the Pigment plotters and printers that is best for the wide range of materials available.
Water Resistance
The dye in the dye-based ink dissolves in water like sugar does in water -- completely.
Pigment does not dissolve completely. It is more like a flour and water mixture.
Because of this, dye-based inks flow better and have been the standard in inkjet printers. But the dye will re-dissolve and the ink will flow across the paper if drops of water hit the paper.
Pigmented ink particles tend to settle into the tiny fibers that make up the paper. As the ink drys, the pigment particles get stuck in the fibers. Thus, the pigmented inks are more water resistent than the dye-based inks. Only about 5 to 10 percent of the ink will re-flow if the paper is hit by water.
Fade Resistance
The molecules in dye-based inks are spread out. You might think of dye-based ink on paper as similar to a beach covered with sand. Because of this, dye-based ink tends to fade quicker, since all of the molecules are exposed to the chemical and sunlight-caused reactions that fade the ink. You may notice fading of dye-based inks exposed to direct sunlight commonly in 6 to 12 weeks, although when protected from air and sunlight, these inks can last several years. However, new dyes developed originally by HP, Fuji, and Epson have improved the fade resistance of dye-based inks to be equivalent to the capability of most pigments.
· Pigment particles are similar to large pebbles on a beach. It is much more difficult for sunlight and chemicals to react with all of the pigment molecules, since most of them are hidden inside the "pebbles". Pigmented inks will usually last for several months before fading becomes noticeable, and when protected from air and sunlight, these inks can last for many years.
· Special Pigmented inks are those which are rated as "Archival Quality" Archival quality pigmented inks use special pigments to improve the fade performance beyond that of normal pigmented inks. Fading becomes noticeable when exposed to direct sunlight in 6-12 months, and when protected from air and sunlight these inks will last for decades.
· For extremely long archival conditions, the best thing to do is simply to enclose a CD with the document or photographs. That way, if there is any damage down the road, the customer can simply reprint the material.
Print Quality
It is possible to get more "color" into dyes than into pigments. Therefore, dye-based colors tend to be more vibrant than pigment-based colors. And pigmented black inks tend to be slightly lighter than dye-based inks.
· Dye-based black inks tend to be better for text printing, whereas pigmented black inks often are designed more to blend in a graphics application.
· Photography usage depends upon the overall printer design. For example, HP uses pigmented black inks for normal printing, but their special photo cartridges have an additional dye-based photo black. Epson 6-color printers often use dye-based inks, whereas their 4-ink systems often use pigmented inks.
· "Special Pigmented" inks have color vibrancy similar to that of dye-based inks, but there is still a difference noticeable to the professional.
- Price
You can't get something for nothing. Pigmented inks cost more to make than dye-based inks, so they cost more.
Special Pigmented" inks are significantly more expensive than regular pigmented inks, since they have to blend very well with the other colors.
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