• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.583-589
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• 2017

Ceramic ink-jet printing has become a widespread technology in ceramic tile and ceramicware industries, due to its capability of manufacturing products on demand with various designs. Generally, thermally stable ceramic inks of digital primary colors(cyan, magenta, yellow, black) are required for ink-jet printing of full color image on ceramic tile. Here, we synthesized an aqueous glass-ceramic ink, which is free of Volatile organic compound(VOC) evolution, and investigated its inkjet printability. $CoAl_2O_4$ inorganic pigment and glass frit were dispersed in aqueous solution, and rheological behavior was optimized. The formulated glass-ceramic ink was suitably jetted as single sphere-shaped droplets without satellite drops. After ink-jet printing and firing processes, the printed glass-ceramic ink pattern on glazed ceramic tile was stably maintained without ink spreading phenomena and showed an improved scratch resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.498-503
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• 2013

Over the past decade, the feasibility of using ink-jet printing for the decoration of porcelain tiles has been explored, and significant advances have been made regarding the technologies underlying printing system and materials. An ink-jet printing system for porcelain tiles has many advantages compared with a conventional printing system, including the following: (1) it is a digital process; (2) it uses non-contact printing; (3) it allows random image generation; (4) it is a highly efficient process (reduced production cost); (5) it offers massive and continuous production; and (6) it uses inorganic pigment colorants. For these reasons, ink-jet printing systems for porcelain tiles have been commercialized and are at present rapidly spreading toceramics-leading countries such as Spain, Italy, China and Japan. We also developed a proprietary system involving a piezo-electric drop-on-demand method and an ink-circulation step. The resolution of this system is greater than 360 dpi after a heat treatment and the maximum printable width is 600 mm, even when setting the printing head unit with four digital colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). In addition, we systematically developed ceramic colorant-containing inks and tile-printing technology applicable to our ink-jet printing system.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.256-262
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• 2017

Digital ink-jet printing technology using ceramic ink, which is thermally stable at high temperature above $1000^{\circ}C$, has an advantage of eco-friendly process applicable to manufacturing products with an excellent durability and various designs. Recently, replacement from conventional manufacturing process to digital process using ink-jet printing technique has been significantly accelerated in ceramic tile industry. In this study, we investigated ink-jet printability of ceramic ink on ceramic tile. Cyan, magenta, yellow, black ceramic inks, which are digital primary color of ink-jet printing, were printed on glazed surface of ceramic tiles, and their printabilities were comparatively analyzed. High temperature sintering process is generally required for manufacturing ceramic products, thus effect of sintering process on printed pattern of ceramic ink was also investigated by analyzing ink penetration depth and ink dot area.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.345-351
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• 2019

Recently, ink-jet printing technology has been applied for various industries such as semiconductor, display, ceramic tile decoration. Ink-jet printing has advantages of high resolution patterning, fast printing speed, high ink efficiency and many attempts have been made to apply functional materials with excellent physical and chemical properties for the ink-jet printing process. Due to these advantages, research scope of ink-jet printing is expanding from conventional two-dimensional printing to three-dimensional printing. In order to expand the application of ink-jet printing, it is necessary to optimize the rheological properties of the ink and the interaction with the substrate. In this study, photo curable ceramic complex ink containing nano silica particles were synthesized and its printability was characterized. Contact angle of the photo curable silica ink were modified by control of the ink composition and the surface property of the substrate. Effects of contact angle on printing resolution and three-dimensional printability were investigated in detail.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.243-249
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• 2018

Ceramic tiles, which were manufactured through high-temperature firing process at over $1000^{\circ}C$, are widely used as interior and exterior materials for building construction due to their excellent durability and aesthetic of surface glaze. In recent years, the introduction of digital ink-jet printing in ceramic tiles for architectural use has been rapidly proceeding, and studies on the materials such as ceramic ink, ceramic pigment, glaze have been actively conducted. In this study, the effect of microstructure change of surface glaze on the printing properties of ceramic inks was investigated by micronization of kaolin, which is the raw material of surface glaze. Black ceramic ink was used for ink-jet printing on the surface glaze of ceramic tile to evaluate the printability by measuring the size and roundness of the printed ink dot. The relationship between microstructure change of surface glaze and printability of ceramic ink was also investigated by analyzing the surface roughness and internal micropore distribution of surface glaze.