Characterization of Printer Inks

Stability issues and test methods for ink jet materials have been investigated (1). Ink jet prints have been tested under various conditions to show their complex fading behavior and to illustrate the difficulties in providing reliable tests. 

In conventional photography, there are a number of standardized accelerated aging tests to compare and predict life expectancy of both the image and the support. The ISO Standard 10977, now ISO 18909 2006 (2), deals with measuring the image stability of color photographic materials and is divided into a dark-stability test and a light-stability test. 

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Sulfonic acid-based azo dyes (qv) and intermediates are characterized by the presence of one or more azo, R—N=N—R, groups. An example of a water-soluble polysulfonic acid-based azo dye (3), where M is a metal, typically Na, for use in ink-jet printers, is shown (75). 

Much of the technology we use daily is based on optics and photonics, thus on light and its interaction with matter. CD, DVD, and Blue Ray players and recorders, barcode scanners, digital cameras, liquid crystal displays, fiber optics communication, lasers, household and street lightning, car lights, paints, dyes, inks, laser printers are a few of many more examples. In each of these applications, many years of research and development were spent. A significant portion of that was optical characterization. 

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