Uncovering Zink's Inkless Printing Technology

In September 2007, the United States Zink Corporation announced that it had secured a venture capital investment of US$25 million. It has once again proved to the world that this ink-free printing technology that does not require ink cartridges and ribbons will enter people’s daily lives in the near future.

Zink Imaging (ZINK Imaging) is the inventor of Zink's inkless printing technology and Zink paper. Inkless printing technology is still leading in the printer production industry. This paper is smooth, vivid and vivid, and can be compared with Polaroid photos. This comparison is because Zink's core technology is based on Polaroid, a famous film camera manufacturer. Zink was originally a factory operated by North Carolina acquired by Konica Minolta (Konika Minolta). Now there are many former Polaroid employees and more than 60 Kemei employees in the company.

What is ZINK?

Zink is the spelling of two English words in Zero Ink, which means no ink. His idea is very simple, that is, let the cartridge retired, do not have ink cartridges and ribbons, but rely on a special paper, you can always output a beautiful digital pictures or documents.

How does Zink work?

Zink has already launched this product as early as January 2006 in the United States high-tech exhibition. The mystery of non-ink printing technology lies in the paper used. When the heated print head comes into contact with special paper, the crystals containing the yellow, magenta and cyan dyes in the dedicated paper will be heated to change the color and thus be displayed on the paper. Different colors.

Figure 1: ZINK's paper structure

Since the ink cartridges and ribbons are no longer used, the Zink printer is very compact and easy to operate. The entire machine only needs heating elements to print out pictures. The print is beautiful, durable, and resistant to fading. The dye-containing crystals are colorless before Zink paper is printed, so Zink paper looks like normal photo paper. When the heated print point touches the paper, these crystals are activated to make paper. Coloring.

Zink paper is the core of the Zink technology. It consists of a crystal layer containing yellow, magenta and cyan dyes and a protective surface coating and paper substrate. With this type of paper, true inkless printing can be achieved.

The Zink paper produced by the paper mill is a large-format web, which is then cut to different sizes and sizes according to the needs of the user. Zink paper can also be processed on plastic bases and self-adhesive backing papers, which have a wide range of applications.