JPH06198898A - Ink flow path plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To constitute a plate so that the late is endurable sufficiently even to an environmental change or long-term leaving as it is, by providing a groove wherein it is in parallel with a flow path and has a cross-sectional form of any one out of a recessed state or U-shaped state or V-shaped state and an adhesive agent enters the groove. CONSTITUTION:For example, in a piezoelectric type printing head, an ink flow path 6 having a flow path where ink is passed through and a PZT of a piezoelectric material are separated by a partition film and the ink of the flow path plate 6 is discharged through a nozzle of a nozzle film by a pressure change of a piezoelectric material by an electric printing signal. Liquid contact of the ink is performed by a joint between the flow path plate 6 and the partition film and since during printing, pulselike pressure is applied always to the joint from the piezoelectric material through the partition film, it is necessary that joining is performed so that joining stress is not applied to the joint after the joining as much as possible. Therefore, a groove 11 having any cross-sectional form out of a recessed state or a U-shaped state or V-shaped state is provided on a projected joint 10 of a flow path side of the ink flow path plate 6 in parallel with the ink flow path. An adhesive agent enters the inside of the groove 11, cured and joining hardness which is not available so far is obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to bonding and joining techniques, particularly to joining of print head parts of an ink jet printer, and can be applied to joining other various device parts and parts of various devices. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when various device parts are joined or parts of various devices are joined, the surface of the parts is often left as it is, that is, the joining is performed untreated, and if the adhesive force is not so strong. There wasn't.

Factors that affect the joining of parts include the material of the part, the roughness and cleanliness of the surface of the part, the type of adhesive, the material of the part and the surface energy of the adhesive. Although the optimum values of these factors are selected for joining, sufficient adhesion cannot be obtained in the case of materials that are difficult to join, such as Duracon and hard PVC.

The inventor has decided to manufacture the parts of the ink jet printer by using the bonding technique. In particular, when a print head of an inkjet printer is manufactured by bonding, since the head unit is filled with ink, the bonding strength needs to be several times higher than that of a normal bonding component.

The ink jet ink contains a strong organic solvent for dissolving a dye which is a coloring agent in order to improve the reliability of ink jet. The organic solvent in the ink easily dissolves the adhesive at the joint portion of the head unit, but slight peeling at the joint portion of the head is not allowed.

As the temperature rises and the temperature of the ink inside the head rises, the ability of the organic solvent to dissolve the adhesive increases. The joint strength of the joint must be sufficient to withstand such a case.

Further, when left for a long period of time, peeling of the bonded portion may gradually progress, so long-term durability is required.

Therefore, various methods for increasing the bonding strength of the head component have been tried, but none of them has achieved sufficient bonding strength.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink flow path plate which enhances the joint strength of the joint portion of a print head in an ink jet printer and can withstand environmental changes and long-term storage. That is.

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problems] When joining members, the material of the component, the roughness and cleanliness of the surface of the component, the type of adhesive, the material of the component, which are factors affecting the joining of the components, It is necessary to optimize the surface energy of the adhesive.

The present invention aims to achieve some of the conditions for strengthening the adhesion by improving the shape of the joint portion of an ink jet printer.

That is, the structure of the present invention is an ink flow path plate having grooves and recesses of each shape as described in the claims on the convex joint surface.

Referring specifically to the drawings, FIG.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a piezo type print head in an inkjet printer to which the present invention is applied. Ink flow path plate 6 having a flow path for ink and PZT2 made of piezoelectric material
Are separated by a partition film 7, and the ink in the flow path plate is ejected from the nozzles of the nozzle film by the change in the pressure of the piezoelectric material due to the electric print signal.

In the figure, a piezoelectric material PZT 2 is laminated on a metal substrate 1. A partition film 7 made of a material that is insoluble in the ink and does not penetrate the PZT 2 is further laminated by bonding. Next, the ink flow path plate 6 is bonded onto the partition film 7. The ink comes into contact only with the joint between the flow path plate 6 and the partition film 7.

Further, during printing, a pulsed pressure is constantly applied from the piezoelectric material 2 through the partition film.

After the joining, it is necessary to join so that the joining stress between the flow path plate 6 and the partition film 7 is not applied as much as possible. When the bonding stress is applied, the force exerted on the peeling is applied accordingly.

Therefore, a plurality of external influences such as the liquid contact and the external force are applied to this joint portion as described above, and the load is many times that of other portions.

The flow path plate and the partition film are laminated by bonding an adhesive. As described above, the ink comes into contact with this portion and pressure is applied to it, so that a strong material for the member is used. As a material, a material that satisfies the function of a piezo type print head, is tough, and can be bonded is selected.

Further, the material of the flow path plate and the partition film must be one that does not dissolve in the dye dissolving agent in the ink and adheres well to the adhesive. However, most of the members that are difficult to dissolve in these dissolving agents tend not to have an adhesive.

When the adhesive adheres to the member without melting the member, the state of the interface between the adhesive and the member and the affinity of both materials become the adhesive force. Optimum adhesion conditions can be obtained by adjusting the factors that affect the joining of the components listed above. However, when manufacturing a print head for an inkjet printer, the joining strength is still insufficient, and it is difficult to guarantee durability and reliability.

Therefore, by processing the surface of the flow path plate, which is one of the joining members, by the following method, the joining strength could be enhanced by the adhesive.

Examples of these joining methods are as follows.

(1) Providing a groove into which an adhesive may enter on the convex joint surface on the flow path side of the ink flow path plate which is a part of the print head of the ink jet recording apparatus.

(2) Similarly, a groove having a concave, U-shaped or V-shaped cross section is provided in parallel with the ink flow path on the flow path side convex joint surface of the ink flow path plate. thing.

(3) Similarly, a groove having a mesh pattern is provided on the convex joint surface on the flow path side of the ink flow path plate.

(4) Similarly, the concave joint surface on the flow passage side of the ink flow passage plate is provided so that the recesses are scattered so that the adhesive may enter.

The above-mentioned (1) is a flow channel plate in which grooves or depressions having the shapes shown in (2) to (4) are provided on the convex joint surface on the flow channel side of the ink flow channel plate. The adhesive enters into and cures. The adhesive has an unprecedented bonding strength due to the adhesive force of both the chemical bond and the physical bond with the surface of the bonding member.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a conventional flow path plate having no grooves or dents on the convex joint surface 10 of the ink flow path plate 6.

The vertical direction of the ink flow path plate is opposite to that of FIG. 1, and the convex joint surface faces upward.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an ink flow path plate according to a second aspect of the present invention, in which the groove formed on the convex joint surface of the ink flow path plate has a concave shape parallel to the ink flow path.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views showing another example of the ink flow path plate according to claim 2, and FIG. 4 shows that the shape of the groove provided on the convex joint surface of the ink flow path plate corresponds to the ink flow path. Parallel U-shape, Figure 5
Is V-shaped.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an ink flow path plate according to a third aspect of the present invention, in which the pattern pattern of the grooves provided on the convex joint surface of the ink flow path plate is a mesh shape.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an ink flow path plate according to a fourth aspect of the invention, in which depressions are scattered on the convex joint surface of the ink flow path plate.

By processing the above-mentioned grooves and dents on the convex joint surface of the flow channel plate, the adhesive enters the inside of the surface of the flow channel plate, and the bonding strength is strengthened.

As a method of manufacturing the ink flow path plate, a resin molding method is preferable in view of mass productivity and cost, but any material may be used as long as the above-mentioned conditions are satisfied. For example, it can be manufactured by molding the ink flow path plate with glass.

The width and depth of the groove and the size and depth of the depression are
It depends on the material of the ink flow path plate, the width of its convex joint surface, and the type of adhesive, and is determined so that the joint strength is the strongest.

In the fourth aspect, the shape of the depressions scattered on the convex joint surface of the ink flow path plate may be circular, elliptical, rectangular, or the like, and the scattered depressions have the effect of increasing the joint strength. is there.

[0038]

The effects of the present invention described above are summarized as follows.

(1) Effect Corresponding to Claim 1 By forming a groove in the convex joint portion of the print head member as in the present invention, the adhesive enters the groove of the joint surface of the ink flow path plate. It is possible to provide a joining method that can increase the physical joining strength of a joining portion, reduce the load of joining stress, and can withstand even environmental changes and long-term storage.

(2) Effect corresponding to claim 2 The adhesive on the convex joint surface of the ink flow path plate according to claim 1 has a groove, U shape or V shape parallel to the ink flow path. Enter into the flow path plate and the adhesive hardens, so that the physical binding force is added to the chemical binding force to increase the binding force.

(3) Operation and Effect Corresponding to Claim 3 Since the groove pattern on the convex joint surface of the ink flow path plate according to claim 1 has a mesh shape, the contact area between the adhesive and the flow path plate is At the same time that the adhesive spreads, the amount of the adhesive entering the flow path plate increases, and the physical bonding force is added to the chemical bonding force to increase the bonding force.

(4) Operation and Effect Corresponding to Claim 4 Contact between the adhesive and the flow path plate is made by forming recesses so that the adhesive may enter the convex joint surface of the ink flow path plate according to claim 1. The area is expanded, the physical bonding force is strengthened by the increase of the bonding area and the adhesive entering the flow path plate, and the bonding strength is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a print head of an ink jet printer having an ink flow path plate of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional ink flow path plate.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of the ink flow channel plate of the present invention.

[Fig. 4] Same as above

[FIG. 5] Same as above

[FIG. 6] Same as above

[FIG. 7] Same as above

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 PZT 3 of piezoelectric material 4 Protection plate 4 Plate 5 Nozzle film 6 Ink flow path plate 7 Partition film 8 FPC 9 Ink flow path 10 Convex joint surface 11 Concave groove 12 U-shaped groove 13 V-shaped groove 14 Mesh Grooves 15 Dimples scattered around.

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] February 7, 1994

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Brief description of the drawing

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a print head of an ink jet printer having an ink flow path plate of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional ink flow path plate.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of the ink flow channel plate of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of the ink flow channel plate of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of the ink flow channel plate of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of the ink flow channel plate of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a specific example of the ink flow channel plate of the present invention.

[Description of Reference Signs] 1 substrate 2 PZT 3 protective plate of piezoelectric material 4 plate 5 nozzle film 6 ink flow channel plate 7 partition film 8 FPC 9 ink flow channel 10 convex joint surface 11 concave groove 12 U-shaped groove 13 V Grooves 14 Net-like grooves 15 Dimples scattered.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Keiji Murakami 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ink flow channel plate, characterized in that it has a groove into which an adhesive agent enters, on the convex bonding surface on the flow channel side. 2. The ink flow path plate according to claim 1, wherein the groove is parallel to the ink flow path and the cross-sectional shape is either concave, U-shaped or V-shaped. 3. The ink flow path plate according to claim 1, wherein the pattern shape of the groove is a mesh. 4. An ink flow channel plate, characterized in that depressions into which an adhesive agent enters are scattered on the convex bonding surface on the flow channel side.