Investigation of Carbon Black Ink on Fine Solid Line Printing in Flexography

摘要

The flexographic printing process poses as an attractive candidate for printing electronics for its high speed printing capabilities where such volume and large active areas need to be printed. Therefore an investigation for its potential usage in printing electronics is highly in demand hence a research for suitable conductive ink related to this process is vital. This paper will focus on a novel development of carbon black ink in printing fine solid lines specifically developed for this type of printing method compared to commonly used silver metallic filled inks and polymeric inks readily available in printing technologies which will also be extensively reviewed and elaborated. A step by step approach by printing solid lines, measurements of printing plates and printed images and finite element analysis (FEA) has been carried out in advance to help comprehending this process that is influenced by many interacting parameters. Printing trials have also been carried out in comparison with water based Panipol ink to check the compatibility and the suitability of the ink developed for this printing technique.