Along with many other companies and organisations in Australia, representation from the National Printing Laboratory went along to drupa with great expectation and not a little excitement at the prospect of viewing the world’s greatest showcase of the industry. With equal anticipation we awaited their return, to be informed about the latest and greatest from these travellers brimming with information. This article was to be about their observations and a view of the show from a different perspective. Surprisingly, that wasn’t how it turned out.
The NPL was represented by Alf Carrigan, chairman of the NPL management committee, and John
Mc Connell, laboratory manager, and when I asked them for their impressions, I received the following (mostly unexpected) reply.
Alf and John were particularly grateful for (and impressed by) the time, effort, and hospitality given to them by the major machinery manufacturers in particular, unanimously saying that the reception was first class, and that the level of information passed on was excellent.
Presses were bigger and faster, makeready times were even further reduced, and all the electronic gadgetry seen in earlier shows as options, were now standard. Alf, a self-described "offset man from way back", was clearly impressed with the volume of digital applications and innovations on show, but also observed that Wayne Robinson had summed up the situation very well in last month’s editorial, when he noted that "the emphasis was on quiet evolution, rather than radical evolution" and that "the predicted take over of traditional offset by digital print several years ago had not occurred".
On one hand, this means that an expensive hardware race has been halted for the time being at least, and that the focus may now (hopefully) be returned to the traditional values of service, quality, and value for money, rather than just new technology. On the other hand, anyone seeking a gizmo-led marketing breakthrough would certainly have been disappointed.
Alf’s comment on the software focus with such items as JDF was succinct, "the new stuff you can’t touch". Also, his hypothesis for the lower numbers from our region at drupa this year revolves around the significant reduction in the number of companies in the industry. As amalgamations continue, Alf logically says that if five companies in the past sent four or five people each, and those companies were amalgamated into two, then surely only 40 per cent of the original number would go this time.
I had especially asked both representatives to keep an eye out for any hybrid presses involving inkjet in sheet or web fed machines, and was rather surprised when they reported that nothing of significance was to be found.
It is already evident that the initial hybrid press approach of conventional litho front ends with inbuilt electrophotographic capability has not swept the industry, and it seems a mite surprising that the experiment has not continued into the second of the big two means of individualisation. Nevertheless, our eyes on the ground were both impressed with the range of dedicated wide-format inkjet machines on display.
There is no doubt that digital technology will displace a significant slice of the conventional printing processes in ensuing years, however, and who knows what the next drupa may bring.
Two-way bet
CRC Smartprint is certainly having a dollar each way with digital technology, as the portfolio of projects being undertaken by the Centre include two involving electrophotography (xerography) and three about inkjet studies.
As I explained in the November 2002 Australian Printer column, toner based printing units are becoming faster and also more complex with multi colour capability. As a consequence, they are also much more demanding on the components of the process, such as paper and preprint (and very probably toner, but this is mainly supplied OEM and is beyond our influence).
The surface chemistry and physics of paper are well beyond the scope of this column, (and the scope of this columnist), but one clear effect of them that we all see with our desk top printers is when we print a colour design on a sheet of multi purpose office paper. That’s why CRC Smartprint is working with paper manufacturers to upgrade paper surfaces for the improvement of print quality by both toner and inkjet technologies.
When a puddle of ink is applied to the surface of a piece of uncoated paper, as the studies of our researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra have proven, (refer to my October 2002 article), the puddle is not sucked straight down into the sheet via the quite large holes (pores) in the cellulose matrix, but migrates either along channels formed by fibres lying parallel to each other or partially through the fibres themselves. This is the cause of the spreading or ‘wicking’ that we see happening to the edges of particularly a solid print that causes a loss of sharpness.
The first part of the CRC inkjet study revolves around what happens when inkjet droplets impact on the paper surface. If someone had asked me three years ago whether an inkjet printer delivered one, a few, or a deluge of droplets, I would probably have opted for the second rather than the real (last) option, as inkjet printers on the micro scale are more like tiny, but coarse, spray guns rather than precision instruments.
Inkjet observation
The CRC now has two highly sophisticated instruments for observing the output from an inkjet head. They are the ‘Microdrop’ unit from Mikrodosiersysteme mbH that can produce single droplets between 30 to 500 picolitres for study, and the neatly named ‘Dropwatcher’ from iTi, (imaging Technology international), that can capture and ‘freeze’ the flight of single or many drops.
Our work includes studies of the ink characteristics, rheology and droplet formation, as well as surface chemistry studies of the paper substrate. Now that the mechanism is well understood, the objective of this ongoing research is to control the movement of the ink to reduce or hopefully prevent the wicking effect altogether, thus producing a much sharper and denser print without needing to go to the expense of a highly coated ‘photographic’ quality paper.
Similarly, research is well advanced toward understanding the physical and chemical influences that affect the deposition and fusion of toner type inks (be they powder or dispersions), onto paper surfaces. The outcome of this will be to keep apace with the operational requirements of those ever faster, more demanding machines that are part of the "quiet evolution".
