A method for achieving high quality aqueous ink-jet printing on plain paper at high print speeds

摘要

An apparatus 30 for ink-jet printing on a recording medium 34 is provided which includes the steps of jetting aqueous ink drops 40 on the recording medium 34 (paper) in the form of an image. The aqueous ink used is a slow-drying (high-surface tension) ink 20 which does not penetrate the paper/paper fibers 34 for a relatively long time. Prior to penetration of the paper/paper fibers 34, the water in the droplet is quickly evaporated from the ink while still resident on the paper surface. The evaporation process is substantially completed prior to an additional liquid ink 20 being jetted 40 onto the same or adjoining location of the recording medium. The evaporation is rapid enough to prevent the resident ink from substantially migrating/wicking to any adjacent location or into the recording medium. Further drying energy (52, 54) is transferred to the resident ink spots from the same direction as the printheads ensuring less energy requirement. IMAGE