JP3669011B2 - Inkjet device manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial application fields]
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an ink jet apparatus having a substrate on which nozzles for ejecting ink are formed, and a head member having an ink chamber that communicates with the nozzles and is filled with ink.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, piezoelectric ink jet heads have been proposed. These heads are equipped with a plurality of ink chambers filled with ink. By changing the volume of the ink chamber by the dimensional displacement of the piezoelectric actuator, the ink in the ink chamber is ejected from the nozzle when the volume is reduced, and the volume is increased. Ink is sometimes introduced into the ink chamber. A desired character or image can be formed by ejecting ink from an ink chamber at a predetermined position.
[0003]
Such an inkjet head will be specifically described with reference to a perspective view of the inkjet head 1 shown in FIG. 6 and a partial sectional view of the inkjet head 1 shown in FIG.
[0004]
By joining the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 having a plurality of side walls 5 and polarized in the direction of the arrow 28 and the lid 6, a large number of parallel ink chambers 4 spaced apart from each other in the lateral direction in FIG. Is configured. The ink chamber 4 has a long and narrow rectangular cross section, and the side wall 5 extends over the entire length of the ink chamber 4. A drive electrode 7 for applying a drive electric field is formed in the lower half (or upper half) of the surface of the side wall 5, and the surface of the drive electrode 7 is used to insulate the ink from the drive electrode 7. Insulation treatment is applied. A nozzle plate 60 having a nozzle 50 communicating with one end of each ink chamber 4 is fixed to one end of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and the lid 6 by an adhesive 70.
[0005]
When the ink chamber 4B is selected in accordance with predetermined print data in the inkjet head 1 as shown in FIG. 7, a drive electric field is generated between the drive electrodes 7C and 7D and the drive electrodes 7E and 7F by a drive device (not shown). 10 is applied. At this time, since the drive electric field direction and the polarization direction are orthogonal to each other, the side walls 5B and 5C are deformed in a dogleg shape toward the outside of the ink chamber 4B due to the piezoelectric thickness slip effect. At this time, ink is supplied into the ink chamber 4B. Thereafter, when the application of the driving electric field 10 is cut off, the side walls 5B and 5C return to their original positions. Due to this deformation, the ink pressure in the ink chamber 4B becomes positive, and ink droplets are ejected from the nozzles 50 corresponding to the ink chamber 4B.
[0006]
Here, as a method for manufacturing the conventional nozzle 50, for example, a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-101960 is known.
[0007]
As shown in FIG. 8, a laser beam 64 oscillated from an excimer laser device 61 is irradiated to a copper mask 62 through an optical lens system 66. On the mask 62, an enlarged similar pattern of a predetermined nozzle pattern of the nozzle plate 60 is formed. The laser beam 64 via the mask 62 is further condensed on the plate 59 by the lens 67 to form a nozzle 50 having a predetermined shape at a predetermined position on the plate 59. In this way, the nozzle plate 60 is formed by forming a large number of nozzles 50 having a predetermined shape at predetermined positions on the plate 59. The plate 59 is made of a material that does not deteriorate with respect to the solvent in the ink component, for example, a polyimide resin.
[0008]
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6, the nozzle plate 60 is fixed to one end surfaces of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and the lid 6 with an adhesive 70.
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the conventional manufacturing method as described above, if the bonding temperature and pressure are not accurately controlled when the nozzle plate 60 is bonded, the adhesive 70 hangs down or flows into the nozzle 50 to block the nozzle 50. There is a problem that the nozzle 50 is narrowed to affect the injection, and in the worst case, the injection is impossible.
[0010]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a method of manufacturing an ink jet apparatus that eliminates the flow of an adhesive into a nozzle.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve this object, the present invention includes a substrate on which nozzles for ejecting ink are formed, and a head member having an ink chamber that communicates with the nozzles and is filled with ink. In a method of manufacturing an ink jet apparatus, a substance that is a liquid having a low viscosity before being cured and becomes an elastic body when cured is cured on one of a substrate on which the nozzle is formed and a head member on which the ink chamber is formed. formed before, then the material is cured to an elastic body, then, fixed to said substrate and the head member so that the elastic body is pressed against the substrate and the head member by utilizing the restoring force due to the elastic force It fixed by the member.
[0012]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the substance is an adhesive .
[0013]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the hardened elastic body is formed with a curved surface due to surface tension .
[0014]
[0015]
[Action]
In the method of manufacturing an ink jet apparatus according to the present invention having the above-described configuration, a substance made of a low-viscosity liquid is formed on one of the substrate on which the nozzle is formed and the head member on which the ink chamber is formed before curing. Then, the substance is cured to form an elastic body, and then the substrate and the head member are pressed against each other and fixed by the fixing member so that the elastic body is pressed against the substrate and the head member by a restoring force due to the elastic force. As a result, the ink chamber and the nozzle are in good communication .
[0016]
【Example】
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. For convenience, the same parts as those in the conventional example and the equivalent parts will be described with the same reference numerals.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 1, an ink chamber 4 is formed by joining a piezoelectric ceramic cover 2 to a piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 that has been subjected to a plurality of grooves. In this state, the drive electrode 7 (FIG. 7) has already been formed on the side wall 5 (FIG. 7) as in the prior art. The head member referred to in the claims includes the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and the lid 6.
[0018]
In this embodiment, the lid 6 is made of piezoelectric ceramics made of the same material as the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2. However, any substrate can be used as long as it is electrically insulating and has a rigidity equal to or higher than that of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2. However, for example, a glass substrate, an alumina substrate, or a ceramic substrate made of another material can be used.
[0019]
Next, the nozzle 50 is processed into the nozzle plate 60 using the excimer laser beam 64 (FIG. 8) on the plate 59 (FIG. 8) as in the conventional example. The substrate referred to in the claims is the nozzle plate 60 (plate 59). The plate 59 is preferably made of a material having corrosion resistance to the ink component to be used. When the nozzle 50 is processed using the excimer laser beam 64 as in this embodiment, the material processed into the excimer laser beam 64 is selected. Required. Examples of the plate material that satisfies these conditions include resin materials such as polyimide resin, polysulfone resin, and polyethersulfone resin. In this embodiment, excimer laser processing is used for nozzle processing, but other processing methods such as punching, drilling, etching, etc. can be used in one direction, in which case the substrate can be processed by each processing method. In this case, a metal plate is not limited to resin. In this embodiment, the polyimide resin described above was used as the material of the plate 59.
[0020]
Next, FIG. 3 shows a process of producing the elastic body 80 on the end face where the nozzle plate 60 of the head member composed of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and the lid 6 is provided. The elastic body 80 used in this example is a liquid having a very low viscosity before being cured (crosslinking reaction), and a substance that becomes an elastic body when cured is used. Specifically, an elastic adhesive (PM100: manufactured by Cemedine) having an elastic property after curing was used. This elastic body is uniformly stretched on the transfer table 81 before curing. This stretched elastic body before curing has a thickness of about 10 μm. This thickness is a value determined by the size of the ink chamber 4 provided in the head member to be transferred and the transfer pressure. In this embodiment, the width of the ink chamber 4 is 70 μm, and the thickness after stretching is 10 μm by setting the transfer pressure to 100 g. In the present embodiment, such a generally-known elastic adhesive is used, but an elastic body such as a silicon-based ultraviolet curable resin may be used.
[0021]
Thus, after transferring the uncured elastic body 80 to the head member composed of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and the lid 6, it was left to cure at room temperature for 20 hours or more. A cross-sectional view is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the cured elastic body 80 is formed with a curved surface at the portion not in contact with the head member due to its surface tension. Since it is formed in such a shape, the sealing performance of the nozzle plate 60 with respect to the ink chamber 4 described later is good.
[0022]
In this embodiment, the elastic body 80 is provided on the head member composed of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and the lid 6, but it may be provided on the nozzle plate 60 side.
[0023]
Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the nozzle plate 60 is bonded to the head member made of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and the lid 6 so that the elastic body 80 is produced so that the nozzle 50 portion corresponds to the ink chamber 4. Thereafter, the nozzle plate 60 and the head member composed of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and the lid 6 are pressed against each other with a pressure higher than the pressure at which the elastic body 80 causes elastic deformation, and the nozzle plate 60 is fixed by the fixing member 82. Thereafter, the manifold member 83 is joined to the surface of the head member composed of the piezoelectric ceramic plate 2 and the lid 6 on the side opposite to the nozzle plate 60 joining side to form the ink jet head 1. Since the ink jet head 1 obtained in this manner does not directly join the head member and the nozzle plate 60 with the adhesive, the adhesive flows into the nozzle 50 and affects the flying direction of the ink droplets. There is no conventional problem that the adhesive closes the nozzle 50. For this reason, the yield in manufacturing the inkjet head 1 is good.
[0024]
[0025]
In addition, this invention is not limited to the Example mentioned above, A various change can be added in the range which does not deviate from the main point. For example, in the present embodiment, the present invention is used for an ink jet head that ejects ink by deformation of a piezoelectric element, but the present invention may be used for a known thermal jet ink jet head.
[0026]
In this embodiment, the nozzle plate 60 is fixed by the fixing member 82, but the outer peripheral portion of the nozzle plate 60 may be fixed by an adhesive or the like.
[0027]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the method of manufacturing an ink jet apparatus of the present invention, a substance made of a liquid having a low viscosity on one of the substrate on which the nozzle is formed and the head member on which the ink chamber is formed. the form before curing, then the material is cured to an elastic body, then, fixing member and the substrate and the head member so that the elastic body is pressed against the substrate and the head member by the restoring force due to the elastic force By fixing in this manner, there is no flow of the adhesive into the nozzle as in the prior art, and the ink chamber and the nozzle are in good communication . Therefore, it can be jetted well and the print quality is good.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an inkjet head in the middle of a manufacturing process according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a nozzle plate of the embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a manufacturing process of the ink jet head of the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the inkjet head during the manufacturing process of the embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the inkjet head of the embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a conventional inkjet head.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of a conventional inkjet head.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a manufacturing process of a conventional nozzle plate.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet head 2 Piezoelectric ceramic board 4 Ink chamber 6 Lid 50 Nozzle 60 Nozzle plate 80 Elastic body 82 Fixing member

Claims (3)

In a method for manufacturing an ink jet apparatus, comprising: a substrate on which nozzles for ejecting ink are formed; and a head member having an ink chamber that is in communication with the nozzles and is filled with ink.
A substance that is a liquid having a low viscosity before being cured and becomes an elastic body when cured is formed on one of the substrate on which the nozzles are formed and the head member on which the ink chambers are formed before curing. characterized in that the elastic body by curing the material, then fixed by the fixing member and the substrate and the head member so that the elastic body is pressed against the substrate and the head member by utilizing the restoring force due to the elastic force A method for manufacturing an inkjet apparatus. The method of manufacturing an ink jet apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the substance is an adhesive . The method of manufacturing an ink jet apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cured elastic body is formed with a curved surface by a surface tension .

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