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Examining the Properties of TIJ Fluids and Their Role in Serialization

Editor’s note: Part I of a two-part series addresses issues pertaining to the color fastness of CIJ ink.

Domino has developed several inks, including this BK640 ink cartridge, for 2D coding.
Domino has developed several inks, including this BK640 ink cartridge, for 2D coding.

Track and trace has been causing confusion since the California e-Pedigree days. What information should be printed? What print quality grades are acceptable? Who holds all the data, and is it centrally stored? Most of the questions are open-ended, leading to discussion, and to opinion; rarely is the solution black and white. When it comes to printing a unit-level serialized code, however, the options are simple: laser, ink or ribbon. That’s it.

With inkjet printing, the choices can be narrowed even further. With a “B” grade or better being the desired outcome, Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) printers are ruled out quickly based on the low-resolution nature of the technology. “B” grades can be achieved with some printers, but is the print quality repeatable enough to be a solution for pharmaceutical production?

TIJ: A History

Enter Thermal Inkjet (TIJ). TIJ is an 80s-era concept that was developed by Canon and HP. In industrial applications, the high-resolution nature of the print cartridges (up to 600 x 600 dpi) was appealing to life science companies looking to print 2D codes with high grading capabilities. The old had become new again. Several small pioneering companies were purchased by global companies that developed them into multinational brands. Copycats sprung up soon after to take advantage of a boom in need for this technology. After all, the idea was simple enough—use an electrical charge to heat a resistor, eject a droplet, and high-resolution coding and serialization compliance was achieved. Simple!

Only it wasn’t so simple. The idea behind the technology was easy enough, but the functionality of the inks, which were limited to water and ethanol to begin with, left companies struggling with their decisions. With HP—which ended up owning the technology—resistant to hand out licenses to create and fill the TIJ ink cartridges, most folks got a WYSIWG (what you see is what you get) for their ink. There was no incentive to develop different inks.

INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast
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INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast